I must say that I have known very, very few Jews with alcohol problems and zero Chinese alcoholics. I think that part of the problem with the rampant American alcoholism is the lack of gradual and reasonable introduction of alcohol to young people within the family as part of the tradition. There is just no culture of alcohol consumption. And what do American kids drink as a rule? Soft drinks, OMG. I went on a date with a guy from Oklahoma a couple of days ago. Even though he is very politically progressive and makes a point of it, telling how he has nothing to discuss with his ultra-conservative Oklahoman schoolmates when he goes back to see his dad, he is still from Oklahoma. That is a fact. At least I thought that was the cause of his pairing the very best and juiciest lamb we had at the restaurant with... THREE glasses of diet Coke. To spoil this wonderful food with a tasteless fizzy drink! Of course lamb needs to be paired with a bold red wine. They belong together. So I attributed his food and drink choices to the fact that he is from Oklahoma city and not, say, Brussels. Well, after the date he said that he takes Lexapro for depression. So now I am not so sure his Oklahoman origin is at fault. Maybe his p-doc gave him the usual blanket ruling "no alcohol" and he follows it blindly. Or maybe he did conduct a valid experiment and determined that for him personally even a little alcohol is depressing, although I doubt that.