“Shoes on your hands”: perceptions of alcohol among young adolescents in Norway

Abstract

Norway has a drinking culture characterised by low per capita consumption, heavy drinking on a few occasions, and restrictive alcohol policies. Attitudes towards alcohol have traditionally been ambivalent, but recently they have become more “continental” among adults, and the temperance movement has lost ground. This qualitative study explores perceptions of alcohol among 12-to-13-year-old Norwegians. The main result from focus group and individual interviews with 141 participants is that young adolescents are highly sceptical of drinking. They believe that people drink because they “want to be cool”, because they are miserable, or because of group pressure. The perceived effects of alcohol consumption include getting drunk and addicted, while those who drink alcohol are described as immature and marginalised. Arguably, these results reflect a deep-rooted cultural ambivalence towards alcohol in Norway. The young adolescents’ perceptions of alcohol reflect adult voices, but do not indicate lack of agency. Instead actively imitating adult voices can be seen as a first step into adulthood. When young adolescents grow older however, categorical rejections of alcohol will be associated with childhood, and must be replaced with more personal, nuanced and sophisticated forms to justify abstinence from alcohol.

• Alcohol perceptions
• adolescents
• children
• drinking culture
• Norway
• qualitative research

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.