make choices based on perceived consequences of their drinking behavior — characteristics that would predispose to adverse drinking patterns. There was no indication that early AFD was associated with impaired control, the hallmark of addiction. Indeed, at comparable levels of alcohol intake, individuals who started drinking before age 18 were somewhat less likely to report the incidence of desire/unsuccessful attempts to stop or cut down on their drinking, and at higher volumes of intake they were less likely to report drinking more/longer than intended. Both of these findings are more consistent with a willful misuse of alcohol, possibly reflecting poor decision-making and/or reward-processing skills, than with either an inability to control drinking or a greater level of physical dependence (tolerance or withdrawal) in relation to a given level of ethanol intake.
