Interesting racial differences in HED prevalence emerged related to two covariates: parental education and access to alcohol at home. The vast majority of the literature has suggested higher SES was associated with higher levels of alcohol use (e.g., Aseltine & Gore, 2000); our findings suggest the opposite. In terms of HED initiation, a household’s higher SES served as a protective factor for both African American and Caucasian youth. However, Caucasian children whose parents had higher levels of education showed greater changes in the probability of not engaging in HED as age increased yearly than Caucasian children whose parents had lower levels of education. Conversely, for African American children, the level of parental education did not influence changes in the children’s probability of not engaging in HED as age increased yearly. For Caucasian children who were engaging in HED, parents with higher education was associated with greater level of HED at age 12 but less HED as age increased yearly. These findings suggest that higher levels of parental education is a protective factor for not engaging in HED among Caucasian adolescents
