Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on May 30, 2007
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2007 42(4):362-369; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agm042
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Drinking by parents, siblings, and friends as predictors of regular alcohol use in adolescents and young adults: a longitudinal twin-family study
1 Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2 Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 24 361 57 67; Fax: +31 24 361 27 76; E-mail: e.poelen{at}pwo.ru.nl
Received 23 January 2007; first review notified 28 March 2007; in revised form 13 April 2007; accepted 18 April 2007
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Abstract |
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Aims: 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. Methods: Data of 12–30-year-old twins from the Netherlands Twin Register were analysed. Information on regular drinking was collected in 1993, 1995, and 2000. Logistic regression analyses were conducted on cross-sectional data of 1993 (N = 3760), short-term longitudinal data of 1993–95 (N = 2919), and the long-term longitudinal data of 1993–2000 (N = 1779). Results: 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. Conclusion: 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.