Much of the study deals with the hardships of working in the bartending field, which offers little job security, low wages, and few, if any, benefits such as health insurance or a retirement plan.
"This got me thinking about how work and occupational roles are incredibly tied up in our sense of self, our identities, and the ways in which we situate ourselves as social agents," said one of the researchers Emily Starr from the Tulane University in in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The study examined the relationship between bartenders and their perceptions of successful adulthood through access to romantic relationships and parenthood.
It found that bartenders perceive lack of legitimate work to be the main barrier in achieving such normalcy.
For the study, the researchers interviewed 40 bartenders in New Orleans area and suggested how bartenders feel that their jobs preclude them from achieving the "normal" benchmarks of adult life like long-term intimate relationships and family life.
Participants in the study were aged between 23 to 48 and working as bartenders since 2013. They represent a variety of establishments from neighbourhood bars and beer gardens to fine dining restaurants and music clubs.
"Because bartenders feel like their jobs are not legitimate, they perceive that the other dimensions of normative adult life are not attainable or even desirable," Starr said.
The findings were presented at the American Sociological Association's 111th Annual Meeting in Seattle.
