Life Cycles and Changes in Alcoholic Beverage Consumption: Research Project & Theoretical Framework

Abstract

In order to understand the micro-sociological explanations behind the decline in alcoholic beverage consumption, particularly wine, in Italy during the last 30 years, we studied social mechanisms affecting the behavior of individuals. Alcohol consumption patterns, context, time of day, people with whom it was consumed, regularity and quantity consumed, all vary over the course of a person's life. One of the approaches adopted in analyzing changes in consumption patterns was the sociological “approach to the lifecourse” that focused its attention on the transitions from one phase of life to the next and looked at the paths characterizing the lives of individuals. The complex study of alcoholic beverage consumption was addressed with interviews that combined completely standardized techniques (questionnaires with fixed questions and answers) and partially standardized approaches (semi-structured interviews). Altogether, 117 men of two cohorts (40–45 years and 65–70 years) were interviewed, all of whom had reduced their alcohol consumption over the course of their lives. Two focus groups were also organized and conducted. The age groups were designed to record the consumption habits in the initial phase of the period of interest—that is the early 1970s—of two important social groups. The first one was young and in their adolescent years during the 1970s, while the second group was made up of people already in their adult years.