For my Junior Theme, I am researching alcohol drinking and why it's viewed as a norm for college. It was suggested for me to do some research on the drinking culture for European students, since the minimum drinking age across Europe is 16-18 years old. Before starting my research, I assumed that students there drink in moderation, because (as it said in the article I was to later read), "they have wine at the dinner table with their parents from an early age....alcohol is not a forbidden substance there". Here is the link to the article: http://ntesx01-lic.nths.net:2062/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2006081800&type=hitlist&num=0. As it turned out, that article proved me wrong. It stated that youths in Europe drink nearly twice as heavily as teens in the United States, along with other statistics. This surprised me a lot. Whenever someone mentions Europe and drinking, I never think of them to have more binge drinking teenagers than the U.S. I always thought of them as sophisticated and wise when it came to alcohol, largely due to the fact that wine and other drinks are incorporated into their lives at such an early age.
Are you surprised by the article as much as I was? What were your European stereotypes when it came to drinking?
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