is calculated relative to body weight rather than proportion of overall consumption (Nance 1983). Complicating interpretation of these results, rates of ethanol metabolism vary with age. Adolescents have been observed to have faster rates of ethanol elimination than adults (Brasser and Spear 2002; Hollstedt et al. 1977); however, these results are not consistently found (Kelly et al. 1987; Silveri and Spear 2000). Additionally, these results have not been found to account for the attenuated ethanol sensitivity shown by adolescents to many of the acute effects of ethanol (Silveri and Spear 2000). The reported high levels of adolescent consumption may reflect age-related changes in both the rewarding and aversive properties of ethanol (Vetter et al. 2007).
