EFFECTS OF EARLY DRINKING AND AN ANTISOCIAL ORIENTATION ON THE ALCOHOL-USE OF YOUNG RUSSIANS

Drawing upon data from the Survey of Deviant Behavior Among Youth in t he Moscow Region of Russia, this paper examines the effects of early d rinking behavior and an antisocial orientation on the use of alcohol b y young Russians. Using available data from the U.S. National Househol d Survey of Drug Abuse, the use of alcohol and the effects of early dr inking among youth in the Moscow Region and the United States are comp ared. The analysis of the data from the two surveys indicates that a g reater proportion of Russian youth began drinking by the age of 12 but that early drinking is associated with subsequent alcohol use among b oth Russian and American youth. Although there are no data on an antis ocial orientation from the U.S. survey, there are such data from the R ussian survey and an analysis of this data indicates that the greatest alcohol use is found among young Russians who began drinking by the a ge of 12 and who have an antisocial orientation.