We found a significant early onset × iSLE interaction among men. However, the effect was relatively weak and, for men with drinking onset before age 15, translated into a difference of about 1 drink per week associated with an independent event. Conversely, our results indicated that the interaction between SLE and drinking onset on past-year drinking among women was largely associated with dependent events. Although our design did not permit us to directly test for gender differences in effect sizes, it appeared that women’s drinking was more closely tied to the occurrence of dependent events than was observed for men; this was particularly true among women with early drinking onset. A previous study of female twins from the same sample found that after adjusting for event severity, the onset of depression was more closely tied to dependent than independent SLE (Kendler et al., 1999). Other studies examining sex differences in sensitivity to the depressogenic effects of SLE found that women were more likely than men to become depressed over events related to their immediate social network (e.g., problem getting along,
