To date, however, evaluations of peer drinking practices as a potential mediator of the relationship between LR and alcohol-related outcomes has not been supported by model testing in older teenagers and adults [10, 12, 13]. These included results from 297 middle-age men where peer drinking practices contributed to the prediction of alcohol-related problems, but were not related to the LR to alcohol [12]. An evaluation of 113 13-to-24-year-olds (mean age 19 years) also revealed a relationship between peer drinking and a person’s alcohol practices, but, contrary to the hypothesis, no strong link between LR and peer drinking practices [13]. The performance of peer drinking variables in these models could reflect the older age of the samples tested, as the influences of peers on drinking patterns have been hypothesized to be most prominent among relatively young adolescents [31, 32]. In addition, the evaluations of the possible role of peer drinking as a partial mediator between a low LR to alcohol and drinking practices have been carried out in higher socioeconomic stratum, U.S.-based families.
