The 2 temperament factors that were indexed stably across time, emotional and conduct difficulties, and sociability were both significantly associated with alcohol consumption and problems in both males and females. The association between emotional and conduct difficulties and consumption was not mediated through personality or peer characteristics for either gender and surprisingly had a protective effect on consumption, whereby both boys and girls who had elevated levels of emotional and conduct difficulties showed lower levels of alcohol consumption. Sociability was related to increased consumption, with mediation through personality and peers (Fig. 1). Although mediation was significant for both boys and girls (accounting for 18 and 23% of the total effect, respectively), the mediating variables partially differed. Sociability was associated with consumption through higher sensation-seeking and higher extraversion in both boys and girls, but boys showed additional mediation through antisocial friends and friendship problems, whereas girls showed mediation through reduced conscientiousness. The direction of effect associated with friendship problems in boys was that increased sociability was associated with reduced friendship problems.
