Social representations of alcohol and illegal drugs in focus group interviews with 18-year-olds and parents of teenagers

Abstract

Aims To analyse two generations' associations to the words ‘alcohol’ and ‘illegal drugs’ Methods Focus groups were conducted with seven groups of 18-year-olds and four groups of parents of teenagers. The groups of young people and the groups of parents were in several respects each other's opposites. The young people were selected for focus group interviews because they drink and like to party. The parents were selected because they represent parents who take an active interest and care in young people's alcohol and drug habits. The focus group sessions started with the participants writing down all their associations, first to ‘alcohol’ and then to ‘illegal drugs’, with two minutes for each topic. The processing was done by classifying all words under separate headings depending on the theme of the associations. Results The most striking similarities between the young people of the study and the parents are that the two generations have similar notions of the benefits of alcohol. These regard having fun together with other people, creating a party atmosphere and feelings of togetherness, and also that alcohol offers relaxation. Notions about the short-term negative effects of alcohol are also similar. The most obvious difference between the generations is that young people lack any words connoting the long-term negative consequences from alcohol use. When it comes to illegal drugs, disassociation from illegal drugs is the foremost similarity between the young people and the parents. The differences in the main are that the young people have more concrete associations as well as value-free descriptions of the effects of using drugs and the times for using drugs. The parents describe the phenomenon more from a distance. Their associative paths extend to things that probably do not exist within their own sphere of reference. Another difference is that the young people sometimes have positive associations to drugs, which are missing among the parents. Conclusions In several ways young people and parents share the same ideas about alcohol and illegal drugs. In regard to alcohol they share the idea of the immediate beneficial properties of alcohol as well as its immediate negative consequences, ideas that seem culturally deep-rooted. In regard to drugs the associative picture given by young people and parents to a large extent also seems mutual, with respect to the predominantly negative picture. To a certain extent, however, the young people show in their associations that illegal drugs are a normal phenomena, while simultaneously showing that drugs are abnormal, and that most disassociate from them. Even in young people with positive connotations to drugs there are expressions of cautiousness and risk consciousness.