We examined the directional relationships between alcohol use and antisocial behavior by applying a cross-lagged model to longitudinal data from ALSPAC. This study is, to our knowledge, currently the largest cross-lagged analysis of the directional relationships between alcohol use and antisocial behavior. The large sample size, along with measures covering various domains of the 2 behaviors, also provided a rare opportunity to test potential sex differences in the relationships between the behaviors. The results indicated that the relationship between alcohol use and antisocial behavior might change across adolescence. During early adolescence (between ages 12 and 13), neither alcohol use nor antisocial behavior predicted subsequent measures of one another. Early antisocial behavior was predictive of subsequent alcohol use during mid-to late adolescence (from ages 13 to 17). However, alcohol use was only predictive of antisocial behavior during late adolescence (between ages 15 and 17), and this relationship appeared to be mainly driven by males. The results of the model comparisons indicated that the relationships between alcohol use and antisocial behavior were largely equivalent across the sexes, although a possible sex difference was suggested in late adolescence.
