Abstract
This article describes the alcohol consumption patterns of a sample of 114 males aged 40–45 and 65–70, and analyzes their alcoholic habits today and in the peak consumption periods they identified. The habits we looked at included a study of the behavior, social and personal context and details that characterized alcohol consumption at any particular moment. This part of the study was conducted by first asking the participants to fill in a questionnaire of closed-ended questions, and then by submitting the participant to a semi-structured open-ended interview where his lifetime use of alcohol was discussed.
The data illustrated how the sample diminished its alcohol consumption from the period of maximum consumption up until today, due to a change in drinking habits. A stronger impact on consumption seems to be the drop in drinking regularity, with a reduction in daily consumption and a rise in occasional drinking.
The two age groups seem to manifest two different drinking models: the elder one, though having diminished the quantity of alcohol consumed, has largely maintained its drinking patterns of wine and, to a lesser extent, beer. The younger age group has shifted from a pattern in which the prevalent beverage was beer with occasional consumption of high-strength alcohol, which had a largely social role, with relatively frequent episodes of excessive consumption with friends in non-family contexts, to a classic Mediterranean style of consumption very similar to that of the elder age group.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.