Citation

Alasuutari P. Addiction 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/add.15750

PMID

34825422

Abstract

Caluzzi and colleagues' article [1] is a welcome step forward in trying to account for adolescents' declining alcohol consumption. Instead of focusing upon separate independent variables that might affect alcohol consumption among youth, it tries to provide an explanation for the 'big picture'. However, I have two critical remarks regarding their proposal, according to which the phenomenon can be described as denormalization of drinking and normalization of non-drinking. First, in what sense does the theory explain the phenomenon, or does it only describe it by using classical sociological vocabulary? Secondly, the hypothesis does not address the intriguing and important fact that the decline has taken place world-wide.

I share the authors' starting-point, according to which one cannot explain the 'big picture' by variables that correlate with individuals' alcohol consumption levels. The change is obviously generational and therefore calls for a cultural explanation. In the proposed explanation there is, however, the danger that it merely reformulates the phenomenon and therefore results in circular reasoning. As alcohol consumption among adolescents has declined, it almost necessarily means that a growing number of individuals in social situations abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages. Hence, such behaviour becomes increasingly normal. We can name this 'normalization of non-drinking', or even 'denormalization of drinking': drinking is more seldom considered as a normal, self-evident behavioural model. When people's experiences of behaviour in social situations change, they also adjust their opinions as to what they consider normal, acceptable or preferable conduct. Which comes first: do individuals first change their views on social norms and then behave accordingly, or is it the other way around? Or is talking about norms and normalization/denormalization simply a way to describe the phenomenon by using another vocabulary?...

Language: en

Keywords

social media; Cultural change; declining adolescent drinking; denormalization; globalization; normalization