| In times when regulation, not prohibition, has prevailed, Americans have struggled to regulate youth and young adult alcohol use in a way that targets undesirable problem behaviors and future potential for severe abuse, while acknowledging the realities of youthful moderate drinking. Historically, changes in youth drinking laws reflected new adult understandings of youth alcohol use. These laws were a legislative manifestation of changing public opinion, and the perceived role that policy should play in promoting safe, intelligent drinking behavior.;"The Drinking Age Debates" tracks the development of academic studies and public thought regarding youth and young adult alcohol consumption and related policies, focusing on the path to the1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act, also known as the Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. The dissertation examines what Americans throughout the nation knew, thought, and wrote about youth and young adult drinking. It sheds light on the combined historical influence that social science research, media, fear, and growing public support for reactionary protectionist legislation had on creating the youth-oriented alcohol policies that exist today.;The dissertation fills a gaping hole in the existing literature on the history of American alcohol policy. It contributes to the literature on the history of American public health and medicine, American federalism and state-building, and American childhood, particularly with regards to protection of "innocence." It also adds historical depth to on-going contemporary dialogue about how to most appropriately regulate contemporary youth alcohol use. |
