Dwight B. Heath

Factors that predispose children and teens to underage drinking and other deviant behaviors are most likely responsible for adult drinking problems, not the age when they begin to imbibe, Dwight B. Heath argues in the following viewpoint. He contends that in cultures where it is acceptable for young people to drink, teens and even young children consume alcohol without adverse consequences. In contrast, Americans preach “just say no” to their children, thereby making alcohol a “forbidden fruit” and encouraging youth to use it irresponsibly, he maintains. Dwight B. Heath is a professor of anthropology at Brown University and the author of Drinking Occasions: Comparative Perspectives on Alcohol and Culture.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. Why does Heath maintain that the statistical relationship...