Constructing maturity through alcohol experience–Focus group interviews with teenagers

Abstract

Danish 14-and 15-year-olds are at the top of the European list when it comes to drinking and drunkenness. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the struggle for social recognition -with alcohol as the central marker -transpires in groups of teenagers in Denmark. This article shows how alcohol experience and positive attitudes towards drinking are related to popularity and influence in the peer group. The function of alcohol in teenagers' struggle for recognition is so strong that the participants who drink very little or not at all are put under considerable pressure. With alcohol as a central marker of maturity -and the drinking teenagers' parents described as supporters of this viewnon-drinking teenagers come out as the potential losers in the negotiation of status in the groups. The data are drawn from a large qualitative study in which 28 focus group interviews were conducted with Danish teenagers. This article represents a close reading of two of the interviews. Theoretically, the analysis is inspired by symbolic interactionism, Erwin Goffman's dramaturgical approach to social interaction and the post-structuralist reasoning of Judith Butler.

Youth Drinking in Public Places: The Production of Drinking Spaces in and Outside Nightlife Areas

“…Therefore, micro interactive sociological concepts of social settings (drinking situations) are often applied to this type of research (Demant and Järvinen, 2006;Douglas, 2003;Gusfield, 2003;Maunu, 2007a, 2007b). Some studies examine in-depth specific drinking locations such as pubs (for example, Hunt and Satterlee, 1986;Leyshon, 2008), house parties (for example, Järvinen and Østergaard, 2009;Demant and Østergaard, 2007) and tourist locations (for example, Tutenges, 2011).…”

Gender differences in teenage alcohol consumption and spatial practices

“…Focus groups were used to allow participants to draw on their personal experience and knowledge of their immediate social groups (Backett-Milburn, Cunningham-Burley and Davis 2003). The focus groups facilitated social interaction and debate amongst peer groups about drinking practices (Demant and Jarvinen 2006). The decision to use focus groups was made in consultation with the funders and Liverpool Healthy School Team.…”

Use of mixed methods designs in substance research: a methodological necessity in Nigeria

“…Had Chikere and his colleague conducted interviews or focus groups, may be they would have uncovered reason(s) for this social change which arguably is due to the influence of globalization because studies conducted in Denmark reported that young people used drunkenness as a resource for constructing social identity, but this finding was only possible due to the application of qualitative methods (Demant and Järvinen 2006). Because qualitative methods such as interviews help to capture how people ''actively construct their social world'', Chikere and colleague would have been better positioned to elicit richer and insightful data on the participants' experiences with alcohol by asking questions on why and how these students use alcohol consumption as a password to the world of fame on campus (Silverman 2011, p.169) despite the fact that young people are culturally supposed to be teetotallers in the part of Nigeria they studied.…”