The temporal rhythm of alcohol consumption: On the development of young people’s weekly drinking patterns

This paper investigates young people’s weekly drinking patterns during late adolescence and young adulthood. Whereas previous studies often use aggregated measures that neglect the rhythm of everyday practices, i.e. how alcohol consumption is divided across the week days, the paper builds a disaggregated and temporal framework to explain how young people drink on certain days. Drawing on sequence analysis techniques and longitudinal data from a representative Danish survey, the paper identifies four drinking patterns (cautious drinkers, everyday drinkers, weekend drinkers, and heavy drinkers). Analyses of the transitions between the drinking patterns reveal non-linear developments where heavy drinking at an early age do not necessarily lead to heavy drinking later in life. Although parental income and education are important factors to explain at whether young people begin to drink at an early age, high levels of alcohol consumption during youth is more associated with influenced from peers and partners.