A few years ago Gazeta Wyborcza ran a survey asking whether the legal drinking age in Poland should be lowered from 18 to 21 as in the USA. Believe it or not, a majority (about two-thirds if I recall) agreed.
That might suggest that many young Poles are pressured into drinking by peer pressure because that is supposedly cool, neat, trendy, in, etc. and ingest more alcohol and often than they would like largely out of a need to belong rather than personal preference.
At present many 15-16-year-old get wasted regularly because they can get 18-year-olds to buy booze and beer for them. But (as borne out in the States), a 21-year-old is far more likely to consider buying booze for a snot-faced 15-year-old as being below his dignity. He might do so for his 18 and 19 year old mates...
That might suggest that many young Poles are pressured into drinking by peer pressure because that is supposedly cool, neat, trendy, in, etc. and ingest more alcohol and often than they would like largely out of a need to belong rather than personal preference.
At present many 15-16-year-old get wasted regularly because they can get 18-year-olds to buy booze and beer for them. But (as borne out in the States), a 21-year-old is far more likely to consider buying booze for a snot-faced 15-year-old as being below his dignity. He might do so for his 18 and 19 year old mates...