Heavy episodic drinking behaviors, defined as the consumption of large volumes of alcohol (e.g., five or more standard drinks) within a set period of time (Gmel et al., 2011; Murgraff et al., 1999), are common among adolescents and young adults. In the United States, approximately 20% of high school seniors reported engaging in heavy episodic drinking and nearly 11% reported extreme heavy episodic drinking (i.e., 10 or more drinks on a single occasion) in the past two weeks (Patrick et al., 2013). Compared to adolescents who abstain from heavy episodic drinking, adolescents who engage in heavy episodic drinking earlier in life and with high frequency are elevated for multiple risk factors (e.g., parental psychopathology, family conflict and stress; Chassin et al., 2002) and are at the highest risk for developing negative outcomes in later life, including a higher incidence of adult drug and alcohol dependence (Chassin et al., 2002; Schulenberg et al., 1996) and health and medical problems (Oesterle et al., 2004). Since the initiation and progression in heavy episodic drinking coincides with several hallmarks of normative adolescent development (e.g.
