Data on adolescent risky drinking, as indexed by engagement in heavy episodic drinking in the past year, came from adolescents’ first follow-up assessment. Adolescents responded to one question: “how often did you have 5 or more drinks in 24 hours during the last 12 months”. Responses ranged from “ 0 = never” to “12 = every day”. Adolescents who reported never initiating alcohol use were assigned a score of zero. Because 85.8% of adolescents reported no heavy episodic drinking in the past year, we created a dichotomous variable to indicate engagement in risky drinking.
