Early age at drinking onset and SLE have both been established as antecedents of increased alcohol consumption, but few papers have described their joint effects. Research has emphasized coping strategies and resources as key determinants of stress response (e.g., Veenstra et al., 2006, 2007), and drinking to cope may be a salient coping strategy among early initiators (Buchmann et al., 2010). Studies also support a greater role of genetic influence on alcohol use disorders and transition time from drinking onset to age at alcohol dependence diagnosis among early initiators compared with late-onset drinkers (Liu et al., 2004; McGue et al., 1992), suggesting higher genetic risk for alcohol use disorders in early drinkers. Early initiators may find the physiological effects of alcohol particularly reinforcing and therefore might be prone to use drinking as a coping response to stressors. Additionally, given the correlation of early drinking onset with familial history of alcoholism and parental alcohol use (Dawson et al., 2008), early initiators may have adopted drinking as a coping strategy through imitation and easy access to alcohol. Consistent with the problem behavior
