18/04/23 1

Youth drinking in the light of quantitative and qualitative data

Kirsimarja Raitasalo & Jenni Simonen

One phenomenon, many sources of information• Study of young people's abstinence and drinking to

intoxication by combining quantitative and qualitative data

• Quantitative data: European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (Espad), Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey (AHLS), School Health Promotion Study (SHPS), Finnish Drinking Habit Survey

• Qualitative data: personal and group interviews of young people aged 18-24 and written material from high school and college students

Youth drinking: Quantitative data• Espad (the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs):

– target group: school children who will turn 16 at the year of the data collection – every fourth year since 1995

• School Health Promotion Study – target group: 8th - and 9th graders of the comprehensive school and 1st and 2nd graders of high

school (here we look only at 9th graders (15-16 years olds))– every other year on the other half of Finnish municipalities and every other year on the other half

since 1995

• The Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey – target group: 12, 14, 16 and 18 years olds. Postal survey since 1977 every other year– nationally representative samples

• Finnish Drinking Habit Survey – target group: 15-69 old Finns (here we look at 19-25 years olds) – every eighth year since 1968

Drinking to intoxication at least once a month (%) in different data sets (boys and girls 16 y.)

0102030405060

Espad boys SHPS boys AHLS boys

Espad girls SHPS girls AHLS girls

Proportion of 16 - and 18- years old boys and girls (AHLS) and 19–25 years old men and women (FDHS) who drink to intoxication at least once a month (%) in 1984–2009.

0

20

40

6019

8419

8519

8719

8919

9119

9219

9319

9519

9719

9920

0020

0120

0320

0520

0720

0820

09

AHLS 16 y boys AHLS 16 y girls

AHLS 18 y boys AHLS 18 y girls

FHDS 19-25 y men FHDS 19-25 y women

Young women's talk of intoxication: qualitative data• Comparison of qualitative interview data collected in 1985

and 2005/2007 concerning young people's drinking• 1985 data: personal interviews (13 men and 13 women aged

18 to 24)• 2005 data: 7 group interviews of young people aged 17 to 23• 2007 data: 4 group interviews of young people aged 18 to 24

Young women's talk of intoxication in the 1980's (I)• In the 1985 data young women separated themselves from intoxication in

answering to questions about a successful drinking occasion:

Well, when one does not get drunk but it is fun, anyway. (1985,W, 21 y.)

That one has not become drunk yet, it is too much when you are drunk. (1985, W, 21 y.)

For me the most important thing is that no one gets drunk (…) (1985, W, 21 y.)

Young women's talk of intoxication in the 1980's (II)• Fear and shame of loss of control are related to intoxication :

[An unsuccessful drinking occasion is] that one has really drunk too much. Afterwards one has the feeling of loss of control. (1985, W, 21 y.)

It is like that one has drunk too much and is not able to handle or like it is said, to control oneself. (1985, W, 21 y.)

Young women's talk of intoxication in the 2000's (I) • Control is no more emphasized, girls strongly identify themselves with the

intoxication talk:

Satu: I never can, or maybe I could but (…) I never want to drink only one cider, I drink when I drink during the weekend in a big way, I don't want to drink like at Wednesday I would drink one cider, that never happens.

Mervi: When we drink we do it in a big way. Satu: Yes. Exactly.

(2005, group interview, 18-23 y.)

Young women's talk of intoxication in the 2000's (II)• Drinking is no more described as temperate and controlled, but as getting

free from everyday discipline:Alisa: (…) Once I drunk so that I was boozed like Bridget Jones,

can you imagine? I was so drunk and made coctails for myself , I had a Martini glass and I drank beer from it. Yeah, I sang and danced.

(2007, Int. 3, W, 18-24 y.)

• Talking about loss of bodily control is completely different from that in the 1985 data, when young women emphasized strong self-control and mastery

Saara: At home parties it is really fun to be completely boozed up when you don't have to go anywhere and then you can vomit and pass out

in the toilet. Lissu: And no bouncer comes and chucks you out from the toilet (…)

(2005, Int, 4, W, 18-23 y.)

Changes in drinking to intoxication of youth and young adults• Starting age of both drinking and drinking to intoxication have

increased –> relationship to increased abstinence and decreased drinking to intoxication among adolescents?

• Drinking to intoxication among under aged has decreased but that of young adults, especially young women's, has increased

• The meaning of intoxication among young women has changed: in the 1980's intoxication was associated with loss of face, shame and fear of loss of self-control whereas in the 2000's it is associated with indulgence, pleasure and having fun

Abstinence in different data sets (boys and girls 16 y.)

0

10

20

30

40

Espad boys SHPS boys AHLS boys

Espad girls SHPS girls AHLS girls

Proportion of 16 - and 18 years old boys and girls (AHLS) and 19–25 years old men and women (FDHS) who are abstainers (%) in 1976-2009

0

10

20

30

1976 1979 1983 1985 1989 1992 1995 1999 2001 2005 2008

AHLS 16 y boys AHLS 16 y girls

AHLS 18 y boys AHLS 18 y girls

FDHS 19-25 y men FDHS 19-25 y women

Youth abstinence in qualitative data

• How does abstinence look like in the light of qualitative data? How do young people themselves rationalize their abstinence?

• Data consists of written material from high school and college students collected in 2008-2009, N=80 (abstinent 41, drink only a little 39)

Arguments by abstainers and those who drink only a littleArguments Abstainers Drink a little

Related to values: stupid to drink, pleasure without alcohol

20 16

Related to fear of losing face / self-control: shame of losing control

4 13

Social: experiences of problems among family settings, childhood experiences

9 5

Societal: abstinent friends, boy- / girlfriend 7 7

Conscientious: religion, attitudes at home 6 3

Earlier excessive drinking - 6

Related to time: hobbies take time from drinking 3 -

Not meaningful: no arguments - 5

Others (risks and health hazards, ethnic, minority) 5 3

Young adults's abstinence in the light of qualitative data

• Arguments for abstinence are similar in the group interview data of 18-24 years olds collected in 2007 than in the written material. Drinking and especially drinking to intoxication are related to false togetherness, stupid action and inability to control oneself

• Especially highly educated young people in the 2007 group interview data distance themselves from drinking

Change in adolescents' and young adults' abstinence• Abstinence among minors has increased from the mid 1990‘s to

nowadays whereas there is no change among majors

• In qualitative data most arguments among 16-18 years olds are related to valuing of having fun without alcohol and wish to emphasize self-control

• Arguments of young adults are parallel but self-control is even more emphasized

Attitudes toward drinking and abstinence seem to be related to valuing of norms and actions

Conclusions

• The decreasing trend of under-aged drinking does not necessarily predict decreasing alcohol use among future young adults

• The meaning of intoxication has changed among girls: in the 2000’s drinking to intoxication is seen as an essential part of having fun among both genders

• The changes of youth drinking are related to changes in values rather than changes in leisure time, easiness of getting alcohol or parental control

• A cultural change in the Finnish drinking habits: especially women also in the youngest age groups drink more and more often to intoxication than earlier

18/04/23 Presentation name / Author 18