LIBRI DI FRANCA BECCARIA

Il termine binge drinking viene sempre più impiegato dalla comunità scientifica per misurare il bere eccessivo e dai media per descrivere il bere giovanile e una presunta crescente propensione dei giovani ad ubriacarsi. Le statistiche mostrano però discrepanze e sollevano interrogativi cui si è cercato di rispondere attraverso una ricerca qualitativa mixed-method basata su 134 interviste individuali e un forum web rivolti a giovani (15-24 anni). I risultati mostrano che la categoria binge drinking include stili di consumo molto differenti non necessariamente orientati all’ubriachezza e che non è corretto parlare di "normalizzazione" del bere eccessivo in quanto permane una concezione negativa dell’ubriachezza anche tra i giovani.

In the period 2007-2009 the Ministry of Health and the CCM (the Desease Control Center), in accordance with the Piemonte Region and the ASL CN2 Alba-Bra, have realized 88 training courses in 11 regions involving 2427 "multipliers of prevention", including Health Service workers, law enforcement officers, driving school teachers, Motor Registry and Traffic Authority officers, teachers, instructors (provisional licences). The project provided the participants with methodological and teaching tools for the activation of prevention actions of road accidents caused by the consumption of alcohol, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs, targeted at young learner drivers, new licence-holders, and high-risk drivers.

The article analyses the complexity of the relationship between young people and alcohol and how this varies over time by using a longitudinal comparison of qualitative studies carried out in Italy. This study highlights the fact that alcoholic drinks remain central in young people’s identity-building, which begins at a young age in the long alcohol socialization process within the family context. The young people from the new millennium show more similarities than differences than those from twenty years before, although noticeable is the loss of the transgressive value of drinking in favour of more exploratory and innovative styles.

The book offers an articulate analysis of “planet alcohol”, integrating different perspectives and disciplinary approaches. After an overview of the social meaning of alcoholic drinks in the history of Italy, framed by a set of cultural consumption models, it addresses the main issues of the collective and social dimension of alcohol. Then the book looks at the young’s world, at their way of experiencing the relationship with alcoholic drinks, describing some significant experiences in prevention and health promotion.

Il volume offre una lettura articolata del “pianeta alcol”, integrando saperi e approcci disciplinari diversi. Dopo una ricostruzione della presenza delle bevande alcoliche nella storia del nostro Paese e degli stili e dei modelli culturali del consumo, il testo affronta i temi nodali della dimensione collettiva e sociale dell’alcol (economico, normativo e autoregolativo) e guarda al mondo dei giovani, descrivendo alcune significative esperienze di prevenzione e promozione della salute.