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Life cycles and changes in alcoholic beverage consumption: research project & theoretical framework.

Article Excerpt
The research aims

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. The analysis of these mechanisms permitted the connection of a macrosociological perspective to a micro-sociological one, enabling researchers to understand how their subjects acted and the meaning they assigned to their actions. We could then analyze how different macro-sociological changes affected the circumstances (the system of obstacles/opportunities) in which the subjects formulated their consumption decisions. The question asked was the following: "which process or mechanism generated the effect of x on y?" (Barbera 2004:56).

This study of the mechanisms was characterized by a procedural process based on three distinct operations: "How the social environment influenced the individual (macro-micro mechanism or 'situational'); How individuals acted and produced effects on other individuals (micro-micro or 'creation of the act'); How individual actions and environmental conditions interacted with each other (micro-macro mechanism or 'transformational')" (ibid., pp.8-9).

With respect to these central objectives, we began our study by looking at the history of alcoholic consumption of interviewed individuals, and then identified the significant characteristics of their consumption changes, how these catalysts interacted, and the informants' capacity to cope with this change.

The research instruments

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). In the opening part of the interview, the structured questions permitted the portrayal of socio-demographic information and reconstruction of the interviewee's stage of life (Russell, Marshall, Trevisan, Freudenheim, Chan, Vana & Priore 1997). Particular attention was given to the turning points, those events leading to a change in the professional or family status of the interviewee. The calendar representing the stage of life was organized as a double-entry table, with a list of events covering his/her residence, school, work, marriage, birth of children, military service, etc. The interviewees indicated the years in which the above-mentioned significant events occurred.

Next, the participants were asked to graphically illustrate their alcohol consumption patterns over time. This allowed the interviewer to identify moments in which the quantity of alcoholic consumption changed. Subsequently, a series of close-ended questions were asked with the objective of identifying changes in the consumption pattern between the present and the period of maximum consumption.

Designed to understand alcoholic-related behavior, the questionnaire included such aspects as the quantity and the beverage type consumed, the context and the company in which it was consumed.

The semi-structured part of the interview, consisting of open-ended questions aimed at stimulating the sharing of stories and opinions, was used to understand the reasons behind the changes in alcohol consumption. The use of different methods of questioning within the same interview allowed us to develop a deep understanding of the processes behind alcohol consumption, and to reduce to a certain degree the margin of error attributable to the passage of time between the present and the moment the stories described occurred. In reconstructing their consumption...