The data described below were collected from the respondent’s answers. Several categories of drinking were established based upon several questions. The first two alcohol use questions included: “Not counting sips, have you ever had any kind of drink with alcohol in it?”, and “So you’ve never had even one full drink of alcohol?” Based upon the respondent’s answers, three categories of drinking levels were developed: those who had never had a full drink of alcohol, early-onset drinkers (had their first full alcoholic drink at age 12 or younger), and lateonset drinkers (had their first full alcoholic drink after 12 years of age). We selected 12 years of age to be consistent with the age of initiation used in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (CDC, 2008). Other alcohol-related questions were designed to determine the age of first full drink of alcohol, history (i.e., past year) and frequency of binge drinking, and the prevalence of binge drinking among those reporting ever binge drinking. We created gender-specific measures for binge drinking, using five or more standard drinks in a 24 hour period for males and four or more for females.
