[pbhowmic]

Drinking, much like smoking, starts in the teenage years, not as an act of rebellion but as an aspirational goal of adulthood. It's something adolescents will frequently see as a marker of adulthood and reach for the marker as a way to bridge the difficult years where they are too old to be children and quite there as adults. Of course, these markers take on a life of their own, even when they have outlived their original purpose.