Existing adult studies demonstrate considerable and reliable gender differences in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Due to the greater prevalence rates for AUDs among men, many studies examining risk factors in an adolescent population have primarily, and sometimes exclusively, utilized a male sample. Differential results within and between the adolescent and adult literature necessitate additional investigations of risk and protective factors in girls. Prospective, longitudinal studies examining multiple factors and large samples of adolescent males and females are needed to understand how genetics and environment interact from early adolescence into young adulthood. Given the importance of gender influence of traditional beliefs on adolescents’ decisions about alcohol use, issues related to culture should be examined. There may be more or less leniency for drinking and drunkenness according to conventional male and female roles depending on ethnicity, level of acculturation, and socio-economic status.
