Drinking by parents, siblings, and friends as predictors of regular alcohol use in adolescents and young adults: a longitudinal twin-family studyAlcohol and Alcoholism 2007 42(4):362-369;
The aim of this study was to examine whether the drinking habits of parents, siblings, and friends were related to regular drinking in adolescents and young adults, cross-sectionally as well as longitudinally.
Results show that age, sex, and one's own previous drinking habits were important predictors of later-life regular drinking. Drinking habits of parents showed small but persistent positive associations. Alcohol use of the co-twin was strongly related to alcohol use of the participants, especially in the cross-sectional analyses, while alcohol use of additional siblings other than the co-twin was relatively unimportant. Cross-sectionally, friends' alcohol use showed a high association with regular drinking, but this association decreased over time.
Cross-sectional analyses showed that a substantial part (29%) of the variance in regular drinking habits of adolescents and young adults was explained by the drinking habits of family members and friends, in particular, by drinking of co-twins and friends.
But, over time, drinking by family members and friends could only explain a relatively small part (4–5%) of the variance in adolescents' and young adults' alcohol use.
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