[Different typologies of alcohol consumers in the practice of the "botellon" in three Spanish cities].

In this work, 6,009 youngsters (14-25 years old) who practice the <<botellon>> were interviewed in three cities of the Valencian Community. After a stratified sampling among college and noncollege students, a two-step cluster analysis was carried out for each sample with two aims: to identify different types of alcohol consumers in the practice of the <<botellon>> and to carry out a crossed validation of the results obtained. The variables included in the analysis were the following: gender, age group (university students: U; adolescent students: ES), performance of intensive episodes of consumption (yes/no), number of years practicing the <<botellon>> and grams of alcohol ingested. The results show the validity of the structure obtained for youngsters, revealing intensive episodes of alcohol consumption, as a four-group structure appeared in all three samples (male U, male ES, female U, female ES), in which men were always at the top of alcohol ingestion. Furthermore, ES consumed the same amount of alcohol as U, even though they had been consuming for less time. However, the youngsters who did not report intensive episodes of alcohol consumption showed some structure variability, with a tendency among women to match men's levels of alcohol consumption.