The more I study alcohol history the more that I begin to realize the
extent of my ignorance.  Perhaps ATHG subscribers can help me in regards
youth and alcoholic beverages.  I assume that a large part of the problem
is how a society defines childhood.  For instance, in recent years in the
USA, childhood has been both enlarged chronologically (university students
are not expected to be as responsible for their actions as had people of
the same age a hundred years previously) and also narrowed (adult rights in
voting and sexuality for teenagers).  I assume too that the varying role of
formal law in different societies is relevant, as is the kind of alcoholic
beverages (for instance, wine or whiskey, low-alcohol beer or regular beer,
etc.).  And, of course, minimum legal ages for drinking seldom coincide
with practice.  There are all sorts of other considerations, as for
example, religion (notably, Islam) and the role alcohol plays in social
rituals, etc.  Any suggestions?

David M. Fahey Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA <[log in to unmask]>