Teenage Drinking and Sociability

Abstract

Several studies have indicated that drinking is a social act. Bruun, for instance, has noted that, for the most part, alcohol consumption takes place in groups. This appears to be true for youths as well as adults. In a 1963 study,¹ he states that only 3 percent of boys aged 14–18 had been drinking alone when they last ingested alcohol. Rogers² stated, ‘It may be said at the outset that drinking of alcoholic beverages by college students is social behaviour. The typical student seldom drinks in isolation. He drinks at parties and other situations where other people are present’.

Reprinted, with permission, from Urban Life and Culture, 4 (1) (1975), 54