Binge drinking and drunkenness – the meaning of excess for young Italians

The term “binge drinking” has become somewhat confusing since it is used synonymously with drunkenness and the current study suggests that for Italian young people, it does not necessarily entail drunkenness and intoxication.

Binge drinkingBinge drinking (consuming rapidly four or more alcoholic drinks over a short period of time) has bee... has received increasing attention in the past years, particularly in Europe where it generally refers to excess drinking and drunkenness. A standard definition for binge drinking – usually five or six drinks consumed in a short period of time – has been used in the scientific literature to assess excessive drinking patterns more objectively and facilitate the cross-cultural comparison. This definition is often used as a synonym of drunkenness; however, there is no consensus for the definition of binge drinking because of the complex relationship between consumption. Definitions of drinking patterns and their effects are highly influenced by drinking cultures.

Italian researchers investigated the meaning that young Italian people attribute to binge drinking and tried to explain the discrepancy between self-reported rates of drunkenness and episodes of binge drinking observed in youth drinking surveys.

The results from interviews with Italian adolescents and young adults show that in their view, binge drinking does not necessarily entail drunkenness but only being tipsy. They aim at being tipsy when they drink while they have negative attitudes and expectations regarding intoxication and its effect. The authors argue that Italian binge drinking differs in many aspects from the Northern phenomenon. This boundary establishes the concept of excess and marks the threshold between socially acceptable and unacceptable drinking. Therefore, the concept of binge drinking cannot be used as a synonym of drunkenness which young people in Italy don’t regard very highly (and that “spoils the pleasure of being with friends”).

Beccaria F; Petrilli E; Rolando S, Binge drinkingBinge drinking (consuming rapidly four or more alcoholic drinks over a short period of time) has bee... vs. drunkenness: the questionable threshold of excess for young Italians Journal of Youth Studies, Vol 18, No 7, 2015, pp823-838.

For more information about this article, read the scientific abstract here.