There is a phenomenon contributing to the current pattern of alcohol consumption among youngsters in Spain known as “botellon” , these are street parties held in town squares for example where young people meet to socialise.

A study headed by the University of Valencia financed by the National Plan on Drugs (2004-2007),  collated data of 6009 youngsters (14-25 years old) from three Spanish cities. Only individuals who engage in intensive consumption of alcohol (n = 2807) were included.

The purpose of this work has been to identify the different types of consumers at risk through a cluster analysis and to establish a profile for each particular group. Four groups were differentiated by age, gender, alcohol consumption and years of consumption. It was observed that adolescent students and university students of the same sex consume similar quantities of alcohol, and justify their consumption alluding to personal factors, whereas university students refer to issues related to control of leisure. The consumption by males is the highest, and they are the most likely to seek drunkenness. They associate to a lesser degree their consumption with the possibility of developing an addictive process. In general, all youngsters consider that their consumption will have no negative consequences. These results indicate the need to come up with different alternatives, addressing the particularities of each group.

Source: Traits that define the different alcohol intensive consume type during the practice of “botellon”. Espejo B, Cortés MT, del Río BM, Giménez JA, Gómez C. Span J Psychol. 2012 Mar;15(1):256-64.