Changing arenas of underage adolescent binge drinking in Swedish small towns

Aim The study explores arenas of adolescent binge drinking in small Swedish towns and the meanings these have for young persons. The focus is thus on space and place, and on the geography of underage drinking. Design An ethnographic approach was used, including direct observations, document studies...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT 2015-09, Vol.32 (4), p.427-442
Main Authors: Ander, Birgitta, Abrahamsson, Agneta, Gerdner, Arne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Alcohol
Alcohol use
Binge drinking
control location
Drinkers
Ethnography
Geographic location
Geography
Home environment
Norway
place
Police
Public spaces
Social work
space
street arenas
Substance abuse
Teenagers
Towns
underage addescent binge drinking
Young workers
Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Aim The study explores arenas of adolescent binge drinking in small Swedish towns and the meanings these have for young persons. The focus is thus on space and place, and on the geography of underage drinking. Design An ethnographic approach was used, including direct observations, document studies and contacts with youth workers on local and national levels, and interviews with 28 underage binge-drinking adolescents chosen as informants. Findings Adolescent binge drinkers seem to have moved away from street and other outdoor drinking arenas to home environments, where they feel they have more control over their party location and participants. Conclusions One consequence of outdoor drinking moving indoors is that professional youth workers and police cannot enter party arenas and the only adults who can do so are the parents. This has implications for preventive alcohol strategies and outreach social work. Measures should be directed to parents to make them fully aware of the importance of the party location in their homes.
ISSN:1455-0725
1458-6126
1458-6126
DOI:10.1515/nsad-2015-0041