In general, the extent to which an adolescent’s peers engage in deviant behavior and substance use significantly influences the likelihood that the teen will also engage in such behaviors (Epstein, Botvin, Baker, & Diaz, 1999; Epstein, Williams, & Botvin, 2002; Jaccard, Blanton, & Dodge, 2005; Li, Barrera, Hops, & Fischer, 2002; Nasim et al., 2007). Specifically, peer substance use is positively associated with early age of initiation (D’Amico & McCarthy, 2006; Fite, Colder, & O’Connor, 2006; Li, Barrera, Hops, & Fischer, 2006), lifetime use (Rohde, Lewinsohn & Seeley, 1996), current use (Kuntshe & Jordan, 2006), heavy use or binge drinking (Jaccard, Blanton, & Dodge, 2005; Sher & Rutledge, 2007) and other alcohol abuse disorders (Moss et al., 2003). Bossarte and Swahn (2008) found that African American youth who reported that a few of their peers drank were 2.95 times more likely to drink than those whose peers did not drink; those who reported that most of their peers drank were 8.29 times more likely to drink. It should be noted that there is evidence that the converse is also true;
