Despite the fact that alcohol sales to individuals under age 21 are illegal in the United States, many initiate drinking between the ages of 12 and 14, and the prevalence of alcohol use and binge alcohol use increases sharply as adolescents transition into early adulthood (i.e., ages 18–21) (Faden 2006). Consistent with previous studies (Grant 1997; Grant et al. 2001), early drinking initiation in NESARC participants predicted frequency of binge drinking between Waves 1 and 2 (Hingson and Zha 2009). In the NESARC Wave 2 sample, the risk for binge drinking in the 12 months before Wave 2 was approximately twice as high among respondents with drinking onset at age 16 or younger compared with respondents whose drinking began at age 21 or older (Hingson and Zha 2009). In fact, drinking onset across all adolescent age groups (i.e., age 14 or younger, age 15–16, age 17–18, and age 19–20) was associated with significantly higher odds of binge drinking compared with drinking onset at age 21 (i.e., the minimum legal drinking age) (Grant et al. 2001).
