Using a prospective sample of young adolescents, the present study showed that the experience of parental divorce/separation was associated with earlier initiation of alcohol use, over and above perceived stress and current and prior parental alcohol involvement, suggesting there is specificity of risk beyond several important family level risk factors. In fact, the experience of divorce/separation in childhood was the strongest predictor of age of drinking onset among all of the constructs examined. Perceived stress and child psychopathology were also associated with initiation, but neither family history of drinking problems nor current parental drinking showed significant associations. Of greatest interest, findings demonstrated that the effect of parental divorce/separation on drinking initiation was strongest at higher levels of parental drinking.
