Abstract:

Through the collective use of alcohol in nightlife contexts, the group identity among young people is built. Although, there is a wide variety of psychoactive substances or drugs that can be used as a group and can be vehicles for strengthening identity, the alcohol is undoubtedly the most readily available substance and most commonly used among adolescents, as confirmed by reports. These include the report by the Observatorio Noctámbul@s, which states in its last report that: “In relation to the use made by people who goes out in festive contexts, alcohol is the drug most used by almost the vast majority of participants (97%), followed by tobacco (65%) and cannabis (51%).” (Observatorio Noctámbul@s, 2019: 65). Likewise, and according to the anthropologist Menéndez (1991), the collective use of alcohol is an articulator, a processor, of cultural practices and social behaviors, so that the study of the social and symbolic expressions that occurred during its consumption show specific aspects of the community or collective that is consuming it.

According to Rodríguez and Agulló (2013), for the young people, one of their favorite activities is to go out with friends, that is, to be among equals. These authors claim that spending time with friends is a space of freedom against "family submission". A space of its own in which it is allowed to shape its individual and social identity. In addition, as the aforementioned authors point out, nightlife is one of the most important practices of the young people in terms of "going out with friends", and the consumption of alcohol and other drugs in those night outgoings are presented as a vehicle through which the identity of the individual is built.

From this point of view, it is intended to know how the young people lives the night outgoings in which alcohol is shared, what motivations and emotions they experience, what role the alcohol has, what functionality they give it, to achieve an approach to the construction of young people identity. In order to achieve this objective, a questionnaire will be carried out to collect these questions and will be implemented in an institute in Madrid as a test of the tool (questionnaire) and to know in a first approximation what the young population thinks of alcohol consumption, what importance it has and what role it plays in its socialization.

Among the benefits of studying the importance of alcohol as a vehicle through which identity is constructed is the possibility that the conclusions drawn from this study may be used to guide campaigns in favour of responsible consumption and the prevention of risks associated with alcohol and other drug use, since the attitudes, opinions and motivations from which such consumption is carried out will be known, and therefore, it will be possible to design more personalised messages for the target population.

Keywords:

Alcohol, institute, young people, identity, nightlife.