Adolescence is a time in which brain connections mature and are remodeled, and alcohol could alter these processes. Given the legal and ethical prohibition of using adolescents in alcohol research, animal models have been used to examine the effects of ethanol on adolescents. Studies have examined the effects of chronic low dose exposure (Evrard et al., 2006) and different models of binge drinking (McBride et al., 2014; Pascual et al., 2007; Pascual et al., 2014; Ward et al., 2014). Selectively bred alcohol preferring (P) and high-alcohol-drinking (HAD) rats engage in binge-like drinking, and adults and peri-adolescents of both sexes readily achieve blood ethanol levels ≥ 80 mg% (Bell et al., 2014). Multiple scheduled access protocols (usually three 1 h periods of access to alcohol during the dark phase) enhance this binge-like drinking, and under these conditions peri-adolescent selectively bred rats consume more alcohol than their adult counterparts (Bell et al., 2014). In general, animal studies and human observational studies during adolescence indicate that adolescents, relative to adults, are less affected by ethanol-induced sedation and motor incoordination but more affected by
