The distribution of age at first drink and the prevalence of problem use (by age at first drink), are shown separately for AA and EA participants in Table 1. Early use was less common among AA than EA adolescents; 26.6% of AA participants reported first alcohol use before age 15, compared with 41.0% of EA participants. (In a Chi-square test of association between age at first use and ethnicity, Δχ2(1)=88.88 (p<0.01), this was statistically significant.) Problem use was also less prevalent among African Americans than European Americans (33.1% vs. 43.8%; Δχ2(1)=31.23, p<0.01). Logistic regression analyses revealed that the risk for problem use associated with early age at first drink was significant for European Americans (OR=1.74, CI:1.46–2.07) but not African Americans (OR=1.42, CI:0.84–2.40), whereas late age at first drink was protective for both (OR=0.50, CI:0.31–0.81 for AAs; OR=0.31,CI:0.25–0.39 for EAs).
