Psychosocial and behavioral factors in early adolescence as predictors of heavy drinking among high school seniors

Objective: Most adolescents experiment with alcohol, and the use of alcohol typically escalates during the teenage years. The present study examined h ow several risk and protective factors measured during early adolescence we re associated with heavy drinking in a sample of high school seniors. Metho d: As part of a school-based survey, seventh-grade students (N = 1,132) rep orted degrees of experimentation with alcohol and cigarettes. Several psych osocial factors deemed to he important in the etiology of drinking were als o assessed. Students were followed-up in the twelfth grade, when 16% were c ategorized as heavy drinkers based on drinking and drunkenness frequency an d quantity typically consumed. Results: Logistic regression analyses reveal ed that heavy drinking was predicted by having had experimented with alcoho l or cigarettes, having had a majority of one's friends drink and having ha d poor behavioral self-control in early adolescence. In addition, several e ffects were limited to either boys or girls. For example, positive alcohol expectancies predicted greater later heavy drinking in boys, while friends' smoking predicted later heavy drinking in girls. Conclusions: The findings suggest that early intervention programs aimed at preventing alcohol use b y addressing the social and psychological determinants of alcohol use may h ave important preventive effects in terms of later heavy drinking.