Apologies for cross-posting.
New Policy Brief by Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl, Alexander Bernardis, Kurt
Fellöcker, Judith Haberhauser-Stidl, Gabriele Schmied
"Juvenile Alcohol Scenes. Consumption Contexts, Drinking Motives,
Prevention"
Abstract:
Since few years alcohol consumption of youth is again discussed
vigorously and controversially in the European public. On the one hand
the discussion starts with the assumption that the drinking habits of
young people have become more excessive and on the other hand the
changed beverage preferences (keyword: alcopops) are addressed as well
as the new consumption contexts (keyword: public places in urban
centres, such as the Rudolfskai in Salzburg and the Rudolfsplatz in
Vienna). Many media scandalize the changes in adolescent drinking
whereas the changes in the drinking habits of adults are being neglected.
Based on epidemiological results an uniform increase in adolescent
drinking and intoxication in European countries cannot be proven. For
Austria it is to be assumed that alcohol consumption of young people has
stagnated during the last decades if indeed it even has declined as with
adults and that it clearly is below that of the latter. However, the
beginning of alcohol consumption might well start a year earlier than
two decades ago and consumption by girls has approached that of boys of
the same age, though they didn't equal them. Based on representative
studies also no increase in intoxication among adolescents can be proven
even though the data also indicate here the convergence of genders and
do not capture changes in subgroups. Hence, the changed drinking habits
of adolescents are only little reflected in quantitative surveys.
The resent study approaches the changed drinking habits of young people
with qualitative methods. It was carried out in an metropolitan area -
in Vienna - and in an provincial and rural area - in Lower Austria - ,
which as East-Austrian wine-growing states show a comparable drinking
culture. The conspicuous consumption by young people in groups, which
are described here as "juvenile alcohol scenes", is at the focus of
attention.
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Annette Hexelschneider, Dipl.-Ing.
Head of Knowledge and Information Management Support Unit
European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research
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