To date, alcohol associations with timing of first childbirth have yet to be examined across both early and later stages of reproductive development. Although early alcohol use is a strong predictor of future alcohol problems, including alcohol use disorders (Grant & Dawson, 1997), review of reproductive correlates of early alcohol use and continued use and misuse offers no clear prediction regarding overall associations with early versus later childbearing. In this study, we use survival analytic techniques to examine the historical relationship between reproductive onset and alcohol use disorder, specifically, lifetime history of alcohol dependence (AD), in older and young adult cohorts of Australian twins, together spanning ages 22 to 93.
