The Phenomenon of Youth Drinking

This chapter explores the themes of socialization and transgression, looking at both continuity and change in patterns of youthful alcohol consumption, following young people from early adolescence through to young adulthood, and from underage to legal purchase age and beyond. Certain aspects of young people's alcohol consumption and the concerns it invokes transcend the boundaries of countries, cultures, and classes. The chapter considers young people's drinking by comparing European countries representative of the traditional Southern wine drinking culture (France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal), Central European beer drinking culture (England, Ireland, and Denmark), and Northern European spirit drinking culture (Finland, Norway, and Latvia), alongside young people in the United States, Canada, and China. Evidence of convergence in drinking patterns between young women and young men in some developed countries has been linked to young women's growing educational and employment opportunities.