Alcohol use is common among adolescents (Johnston, O'Malley, Miech, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2016) and can result in injuries, death, suicidal behavior, aggression, unprotected sex, academic failure, and social problems (Brown et al., 2008). Additional concern arises from the age at which a youth first drinks, because drinking initiation before age 15 is associated with a 4-fold increase in the likelihood of a lifetime DSM-IV alcohol dependence (AD) diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), compared to an individual who delays drinking initiation until late adolescence or early adulthood (B. F. Grant & Dawson, 1997). This suggests that identification of predictors for adolescent drinking could aid development of prevention programs for adolescent drinking, influencing both immediate and longer-term consequences of alcohol use.
