Do the alcohol-related perceptions of teenagers and parents coincide?

This study analyzes how Finnish teenagers and parents perceive different drinking situations and the appropriateness of these situations. The focus is on whether teenagers and parents perceive the situations similarly or differently.

The data consist of focus group interviews with teenagers aged 14–17 years (n=4 groups, n=31 participants), and parents (n=4 groups, n=19). Three pictures portraying different drinking situations were presented to the participants, who were asked to describe (1) what kind of situation the picture depicts, (2) whether the way of drinking in the picture was acceptable or not, and (3) whether they identified with the situation or not.

Our analysis showed that teenagers and parents defined the situations similarly and applied rather similar criteria when assessing the appropriateness of drinking. The most important criteria related to the amount and the way of drinking, and whether or not children were present in the situation. Our analysis suggests that the alcohol-related perceptions of parents and teenagers are similar and hence they should not have difficulties in understanding each other’s views.