Peer relationships have been identified as a key risk factor in the progression of alcohol use among adolescents (Bates & Labouvie, 1995; Curran, Stice, & Chassin, 1997). Social context influences drinking behaviors through both proximal and distal perceptions of peer behavior. For instance, affiliation with a deviant peer group provides more opportunity to drink and increases consumption through the promotion of heavy alcohol use (Hawkins et al., 1992). Additionally, deviant affiliations have been found to increase alcohol use by modeling drinking as a way to cope with stress for youth lacking adaptive skills for emotional self-regulation (Richter, Brown, & Mott, 1991; Wills, Vaccaro, & McNamara, 1992). Hawkins et al. (1992) have proposed that poor parental monitoring links emotional dysregulation in teens with a deviant peer network, which in turn, promotes substance use as a coping strategy. Since cultural norms dictate a double standard for the monitoring and punishment of deviance for girls and boys, this discrepancy between genders serves as a protective factor against risk-taking for female adolescents (Byrnes, Miller, & Schafer, 1999), whereas boys have more freedom to interact with peers that teach and reinforce alcohol use.
