Abstract
This study analyzes how emerging adults negotiate their relation to alcohol in the context of declining youth drinking and how this relationship changes over time. The sample consists of longitudinal qualitative interview data ( N = 28) with 9 boys and 19 girls aged 15 to 21. The participants were recruited through schools, social media and non-governmental organizations from mainly the Stockholm region and smaller towns in central Sweden to reach a heterogeneous sample in terms of sociodemographic factors and drinking practices. We interviewed the participants in-depth three times between 2017 and 2019. Thematic coding of the whole data with NVivo helped us select four cases for more detailed analysis, as they represented the typical trajectories and showed the variation in the material. We used the master narrative framework and Bamberg’s narrative positioning analysis to examine the data. The analysis demonstrates what kinds of narrative alignments in identity development encourage heavy drinking, moderate alcohol consumption, and fuel abstinence. The results suggest that the decline in youth drinking is produced by a co-effect of multiple master narratives that intersect and guide the identity development away from heavy drinking.
Highlights
In Sweden up to the end of 1990s, drinking to intoxication used to be a major rite of passage among adolescent boys and girls signaling entry to adulthood (Sande, 2002)
The results suggest that the decline in youth drinking is produced by a co-effect of multiple master narratives that intersect and guide the identity development away from heavy drinking
We find the hypothesis of delayed adolescence problematic, because it assumes that the trajectory to adulthood is a uniform, linear, and predestined process through which all young people move at their own pace (Törrönen et al, 2019)
Summary
In Sweden up to the end of 1990s, drinking to intoxication used to be a major rite of passage among adolescent boys and girls signaling entry to adulthood (Sande, 2002). These studies provide a good starting point for this paper, as they illustrate the importance of authenticity, responsibility, agency, and control for emerging adults’ trajectories toward adulthood As they are based on cross-sectional analysis, they are not able to trace how the meaning of these elements may change and become linked to diverse cultural values, moral orders, and developmental paths as emerging adults grow older. It is likely that the storylines which are related to performance culture, gender, ethnicity, parental control, health, and other competing activities, and which guide emerging adults’ life choices and identifications in many areas of life as master narratives, may turn into counter narratives to heavy drinking and encourage emerging adults to construct alternative identities.
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