| Abstract: | This article investigates how adolescents learn to become alcohol users in a country like Denmark, characterised by extensive drunkenness among young people and a low number of abstainers among adults. Inspired by Howard Becker's study (1953) on marijuana use, the article reveals that just as a road to ‘becoming a marijuana user’ exists, so does a road to becoming an alcohol user. Integrating Becker's three learning steps with modern socio-cultural theories of risk and the notion of ‘controlled loss of control’ leads to findings that crucial for becoming an alcohol user is the demystification of the risk experience associated with alcohol intoxication and the learning to find pleasure in losing control. Both the adolescents and the parents of adolescents share this perception although for different reasons. The analyses are based on quantitative and qualitative material: A survey of 2000 adolescents aged 15–16 years, 28 focus group interviews with adolescents, and 8 focus group interviews with parents. |
