The project examines the alcohol and drug practices of young people based on the physical, social and normative environments in which these practices take place. The project also investigates how the young people's experiences of belonging to a place are connected to their alcohol and drug use culture.

Aims

The aim of the project is to expand the existing knowledge on the alcohol and drug use practices among adolescents from rural Denmark, while investigating the impact of the rural context on such behavior. Consequently, the project aims to identify which youth-oriented structural incentives might, if necessary, ameliorate the alcohol and drug consumption culture in rural areas.

Background

Research on youth’s alcohol and drug use practices is extensive, but almost entirely conducted in urban settings despite research showing that rural youth have similar consumption levels as their urban peers. At the same time, peripheral rural areas in Denmark constitute a distinctive social and physical context that seemingly impacts the conditions for youths' alcohol and drug use practices. For instance, rural youth living in peripheral rural areas have limited access to formal leisure activities and youth-venues, and their social context is affected by the out-migration of academically oriented youth as well as by ageing populations. Despite the distinctiveness of the rural context, we have minimal knowledge of the alcohol and drug use culture among youth living in peripheral rural Denmark. To fill this knowledge gap, this PhD project aims to examine rural youths’ drinking and drug use practices in peripheral rural areas of Zealand.

The study

The project investigates youthful alcohol and drug consumption in a rural area in western Zealand characterized by a substantial relocation of jobs, institutions and youth. The used method is semi structured in-depth interviews with youth living in towns of no more than 4.000 inhabitants. The sample will consist of 40 interviews with young adults (aged 18-25), who will be recruited through contacts at schools, workplaces and youth-venues. The sampling of informants will ensure a variation in socio-economic background and experience with alcohol or drug consumption. As a part of the data collection, the project uses participant-driven photo elicitation and go-along interviews, to encourage conversations about taken-for-granted aspects surrounding physical spaces and social situations and to help facilitate the researchers’ understanding of local knowledge and the social and physical contexts.

The PhD project will be carried out from September 2022 to August 2025.

Funding

The PhD project is funded by the BSS Graduate School, Aarhus University.