Book introduction: Young adult drinking styles

Abstract

Alcohol consumption among young adults conjures up images of unrestrained, excessive consumption. However, alcohol use among young adults is increasingly understood using different lenses and with different emphases. This chapter introduces book aims and outlines contributions that reflect this range of lenses and emphases. Contributions cover alcohol’s role in initiating and maintaining friendship groups; changes in alcohol use over time among young adults; links between identity and alcohol use including online identities; and how alcohol policy has responded to (and may be shaped by) young adults’ alcohol consumption. The chapter emphasises the interdisciplinary, international focus of the book, and also the importance of a focus on young adults, as a group of individuals at a distinctive life stage.