‘You think you're a rebel on a big bottle’: teenage drinking, peers and performance authenticity

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the importance of authenticity amongst young people when evaluating underage drinking performances. Drawing upon focus group interviews with 251 teenagers in Belfast aged 14-15 years old, the research adopts a Goffmanian stance to advance three forms of performance authenticity termed ‘over-claiming’, ‘pretending’ and ‘acting hard’. The findings suggest that aged, gendered and classed expectations govern the appropriate lines of behaviour which young people may legitimately adopt in front of their peers. Tapping into these teenage constructions may be worth considering when seeking to understand and respond to the dynamics underpinning underage drinking episodes.

Keywords:

• alcohol
• identity
• youth culture