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Influence of Early Onset of Alcohol Use on the Development of Adolescent Alcohol Problems: a Longitudinal Binational Study

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Abstract

This study examined cross-national similarities in a developmental model linking early age of alcohol use onset to frequent drinking and heavy drinking and alcohol problems 1 and 2 years later in a binational sample of 13-year-old students from two states: Washington State, USA and Victoria, Australia (N = 1833). A range of individual, family, school, and peer influences was included in analyses to investigate their unique and shared contribution to development of early and more serious forms of alcohol use and harms from misuse. Data were collected annually over a 3-year period from ages 13 to 15. Analyses were conducted using multiple-group structural equation modeling. For both states, early use of alcohol predicted frequent drinking, which predicted alcohol problems. Family protective influences had neither direct effects on heavy drinking nor effects on alcohol harm in either state, whereas school protection directly reduced the risk of heavy drinking in both states. Exposure to antisocial peers and siblings predicted a higher likelihood of heavy drinking and alcohol harm for students in both Washington and Victoria. Implications for the prevention of adolescent alcohol problems are discussed.

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Correspondence to Todd I. Herrenkohl.

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Funding

Data collection for the International Youth Development Study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01-DA012140), and the analysis and writing of this article was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01-AA017188). The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Study protocols were approved by the Royal Children’s Hospital Ethics in Human Research Committee and the University of Washington Human Subjects Review Committee. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

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Kim, M.J., Mason, W.A., Herrenkohl, T.I. et al. Influence of Early Onset of Alcohol Use on the Development of Adolescent Alcohol Problems: a Longitudinal Binational Study. Prev Sci 18, 1–11 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0710-z

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