The minimum legal drinking age varies from one country to another. In the United States of America, the minimum legal drinking age is twenty-one years old. In other countries such as Argentina, Botswana, Bahamas and others the minimum legal drinking age is lower than the minimum legal drinking age in the U.S. being eighteen years old. Overtime, there has been a debate regarding whether or not the minimum legal drinking age in the U.S. should be lowered from twenty one to eighteen years old. There are both benefits and shortcomings of having the minimum legal drinking age lowered to eighteen years. Considering that there are both pros and cons of having the minimum legal drinking age lowered to eighteen years old, the debate has continued overtime.
Legal Drinking Age in the United States
In the United States an individual is considered to be an adult at the age of eighteen years old. An adult is an individual who can be
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While in the institutions they interact with other students who have attained the minimum legal drinking age. Consequently, the students through their friends are capable of accessing alcohol. As noted earlier, social cognitive theory provides that humans tend to have their behavior shaped by the surrounding environment (Bandura, 2011).
As such, other students who drink influence students who attend higher learning institutions having not learned that that they should consume alcohol responsibly and with time the newly admitted students in higher learning institutions start to consume alcohol irresponsibly. It can be noted that such students would not have assumed the character of consuming alcohol irresponsibly if ever since they were young they had been taught how to drink responsibly as well as the adverse effects that may come along with excessive consumption of