Adolescent age cohort, sex, and race/ethnicity in the risk of transition among the alcohol and drug use stages were examined in multivariate analyses (Table 4). For alcohol, the 2 younger age cohorts were less likely than adolescents aged 17 to 18 years to become regular drinkers if they had already consumed this substance and less likely to develop abuse (without dependence) if they had reached regular use levels. Female adolescents were also less likely to make the transition from any alcohol use to regular use, as were adolescents who were black or members of other racial/ethnic groups compared with white adolescents. However, the patterns observed for drug use categories were more complex in the multivariate analyses than those observed for alcohol. The 2 younger cohorts were less likely than older adolescents to use drugs when given the opportunity, but no significant sex differences were observed in the risk of transition among drug use stages. Black adolescents were less likely than white adolescents to use drugs when given the opportunity and less likely to abuse drugs (without dependence) if they were
