Comparing Drinking Cultures: Finnish and Spanish Drinking Stories in Interviews with Young Adults

Abstract

In this article drinkmg stories among young adults in Finland and Spain are compared. The study is based on qualitative interviews with students attending commercial colleges. The analysis of the drinking stories gives an insight into the interviewees' personal experiences of drinking and drunkenness. Two ideal types of both Finnish and Spanish drinking stories are constructed. It was found that in both Finland and Spain young adults generally had some experience of drunkenness, and that drunkenness coexisted with sociable drinking. In Spam, however, drinking seemed to bring men and women together, whereas in Finland it seemed to set them apart.