If young people aged 16 and over are legally allowed to drink alcohol, how does this affect their alcohol consumption? Young researcher Alexander Ahammer from the JKU Institute of Economics has dedicated himself to answering this question.
“In Austria, the legal drinking age is relatively low, especially compared to other countries such as the United States, at 16,” says the 32-year-old. “That’s why our young people consume excessive alcohol at a young age.”
Ahammer’s studies show, based on survey and register data, that excessive alcohol consumption increases by 42% after the age of 16, with the effects being strongest for young people from socially disadvantaged families. However, this sharp increase cannot be explained by a lack of access to alcohol before the age of 16. In the survey, 85 percent of young people under the age of 16 stated that they had easy access to alcohol. “We can also see in the data from pro mente Oberösterreich, which regularly carries out test purchases with under 16-year-olds, that on average every fourth test purchase is successful,” says the young researcher.
Rather, it seems as if the minimum age has a “normative” effect, i.e. that reaching the minimum age legitimizes alcohol consumption socially and legally. This is supported by the observation that young people at the age of 16 suddenly assess the risk of excessive alcohol consumption as being much lower than before. Correcting the minimum age upwards makes little sense. “In America, alcohol is allowed from the age of 21, there we see the same increase in excessive alcohol consumption, just later. Educational work would be better,” says Ahammer.