Drinking by parents, siblings, and friends as predictors of regular alcohol use in adolescents and young adults: a longitudinal twin-family study
Alcohol 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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Reprint Request E-Mail: e.poelen@pwo.ru.nl
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