From Ideal to Reality Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking Joseph Borlagdan Toby Freeman Angella Duvnjak Belinda Lunnay Petra Bywood Ann M Roche From Ideal to Reality Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking Joseph Borlagdan Toby Freeman Angella Duvnjak Belinda Lunnay Petra Bywood Ann M Roche Borlagdan, J., Freeman, T., Duvnjak, A., Lunnay, B., Bywood, P.T., Roche, A.M. (2010). From Ideal to Reality: Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking. National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, Flinders University, Adelaide. ISBN 978-1-876897-35-2 © DrinkWise Australia Ltd 2010 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from DrinkWise Australia Ltd. Any enquiries about or comments on this publication should be directed to: Professor Ann Roche National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) Flinders University of South Australia GPO Box 2100 Adelaide 5001 South Australia Australia Phone: +61 8 8201 7535 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.nceta.flinders.edu.au/ Published by DrinkWise Australia Ltd, ACN 112 783 114 Design and Layout by Inprint Design www.inprint.com.au Acknowledgements This work was commissioned by DrinkWise Australia Ltd with funding provided by DrinkWise Australia and the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. The NCETA project team would like to express thanks and appreciation to all the stakeholders, organisations and young people who gave generously of their time to participate in this project. Without their support and involvement some of the most important parts of this project could not have been completed. Excellent administrative support and research assistance was provided by numerous people including Anje Scarfe, Huw Walmsley-Evans, Jenny Advocat, Donna Weetra, Amanda Tovell, Vinita Duraisingam, Tania Steenson, Stacey Appleton, and Karen Brandon. This report is part of a wider program of work undertaken by NCETA addressing the issue of young people and alcohol and the meaning that it has in their lives today. The first report in this series is titled “Young People and Alcohol: the role of cultural influences” (2007) by Ann Roche, Petra Bywood, Joseph Borlagdan, Belinda Lunnay, Toby Freeman, Lisa Lawton, Amanda Tovell and Roger Nicholas. Copies of that report can be obtained from NCETA or downloaded from the NCETA website www.nceta.flinders.edu.au iii From Ideal to Reality • Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking Contents Executive summary 1 Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Chapter 2 Approach and Procedures 9 2.1 Research design 9 2.1.1 Observations (n=12) 10 2.1.2 Interviews with stakeholders (n=50) 14 2.1.3 Focus groups (n=20) 17 2.1.4 Interviews with young people (n=50) 21 2.2 Ethics and safety 24 2.2.1 Researcher safety 25 2.2.2 Participant safety 25 2.3 Data management and analysis 25 2.3.1 Data storage 26 2.3.2 Process for data management and analysis 27 2.4 Methodological considerations 28 2.5 Introduction to findings 29 2.5.1 A note on reading the results 29 2.6 Transcription key 30 2.7 Structure of the findings 30 Chapter 3 Alcohol and Belonging 33 3.1 Drinking and inclusion 34 3.1.1 Commitment to the party 35 3.1.2 Sociality of drinking 40 3.1.3 Inclusion in the wider Australian culture 45 3.2 Not drinking and exclusion 45 3.2.1 Dichotomising drinking 46 3.2.2 From a dichotomy to a continuum 47 3.2.3 The contextuality of drinking 49 3.2.4 It’s hard out here for a non-drinker 51 3.2.5 Establishing alternative identities 53 v From Ideal to Reality • Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking 3.2.6 Rejecting determined drinking 53 3.2.7 Alternative leisure identities 55 3.2.8 Passing as a drinker 56 3.2.9 Following cultural or religious norms 58 3.2.10 Healthy and sporty identities 60 3.3 Beyond existing alternative identities 61 3.3.1 Angels of the drunk people: the role of care giver 61 3.3.2 The burden of the care giving role 62 3.3.3 One is never enough 65 3.4 Conclusion 66 Chapter 4 Autonomy and Control 69 4.1 Alcohol as enabling sociability 69 4.1.1 Alcohol as ‘license to transgress’ 71 4.1.2 ‘You see the you that you want to be’: breaking free from the ‘masks’ 73 4.2 Does enabling mean freeing? 75 4.2.1 ‘Was getting too drunk a mistake?’ Calculating hedonism 78 4.2.2 Locating the control of pleasure 81 4.2.3 “It definitely wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for alcohol”: Alcohol taking control 82 4.3 Conclusion 86 Chapter 5 Events, Marketing and Media 87 5.1 Planning and expectations 87 5.1.1 Sociality of planning 88 5.1.2 Event expectations 90 5.2 The role of alcohol in events 93 5.2.1 Alcohol creates an ‘other world’ 95 5.2.2 Freedom within leisure spaces 96 5.2.3 Economic considerations or hedonistic pursuits? 99 5.3 Unplanned events and non-events 100 5.4 Rites of passage 101 5.5 Marketing and consumerism 102 5.5.1 Marketing at public events 102 5.5.2 Marketers’ and retailers’ interpretation of youth-oriented marketing 107 5.5.3 Young people’s interpretation of marketing strategies 108 5.5.4 Young people’s response to the portrayal of youth in the media 111 5.6 Conclusions 114 vi From Ideal to Reality • Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking Chapter 6 An ‘Ideal’ State of Intoxication? 117 6.1 “That one good bit” 117 6.2 Going too far: ‘is it really that worth it?’ 120 6.2.1 Going too far is not a deterrent 122 6.2.2 Social management of drinking 127 6.3 Conclusion 128 Chapter 7 ‘Soft’ Guys and ‘Bad’ Girls: Alcohol and Gender 131 7.1 Introduction 131 7.2 Alcohol as an excuse and gender transgression 132 7.2.1 ‘Ladettes’ by any other name…. 134 7.2.2 ‘Like, you’re not gonna find a nice boyfriend being like that’ 137 7.3 Vulnerability and sexual assault 139 7.3.1 ‘Taking advantage’ and taking responsibility 139 7.3.2 Gendered behaviours – ‘duty of care’ 142 7.4 Reinforcing gender norms – ‘that’s soft’ 143 7.4.1 Excessive alcohol consumption and gender hierarchies 143 7.4.2 Gendered drinks 145 7.5 Conclusion 147 Chapter 8 Summary & Discussion 149 8.1 Alcohol and the leisure lifestyle 149 8.2 Understanding young people’s alcohol-related behaviour 150 8.2.1 Alcohol and sociality 150 8.2.2 Belonging, inclusion and exclusion 151 8.2.3 The importance of friends and peers 151 8.2.4 Alcohol and confidence 152 8.2.5 When alcohol was a low priority 152 8.2.6 Seeking the ‘ideal’ point of intoxication 153 8.2.7 Risk as pleasure 153 8.2.8 Gender, alcohol and risk taking 154 8.2.9 Critiquing the media 154 8.2.10 The drinker vs non-drinker dichotomy 155 8.3 Strategies to minimise risk 155 8.3.1 Duty of care 155 8.3.2 Social management of intoxication 156 8.4 Conclusion 156 Chapter 9 Implications and Future Research 159 9.1 Further research 159 vii From Ideal to Reality • Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking Appendices 169 Appendix A focus Group Comment Sheet 170 Appendix B Focus Group Schedule 171 Appendix C Observation Guide 172 Appendix D Observation Protocol 175 Appendix E Stakeholder Interview Comment Sheet 176 Appendix F Interview Guide for Stakeholders 177 Appendix G Young People Interview Comment Sheet 181 Appendix H Young People Interview Schedule 182 List of tables Table 2.1 Event types and observation settings 12 Table 2.2 Key stakeholder interviews 15 Table 2.3 Key stakeholder categories 16 Table 2.4 Recruitment steps 16 Table 2.5 Focus groups 18 Table 2.6 Demographics of individual young people interviews 22 List of figures Figure 2.1 Data collection phases 10 Figure 2.2 Formulating interview questions 24 viii From Ideal to Reality • Cultural contradictions and young people’s drinking Executive summary This report was produced by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) at Flinders University. It comprises the results from the second phase of a three year national project that aimed to examine the socio-cultural influences on young people’s drinking. Phase one involved a comprehensive literature review that outlined existing research into the social and cultural factors that may impact upon the drinking and non-drinking behaviour of young Australians aged 14-24 years. In this report, we detail the findings from Phase Two of the study that builds on the initial literature review. This component of the project entailed qualitative research that examined material from 12 ethnographic observations of leisure events, 20 focus groups with young people (involving a total of 100 young people), and in- depth interviews with 50 young people and 50 key stakeholders. Sampling was nationwide and included a diverse spectrum of young people with different alcohol consumption levels, from both metropolitan and non- metropolitan areas, and from different life transition stages (e.g. work, high school, and university). Data collection was undertaken from November 2007 through to February 2009. For details of the method and the sample please refer to Chapter 2 Approach and Procedures. The various data collection sources involved in the project were analysed together and findings synthesised into five key thematic chapters as follows: 1.