Teenage Alcohol Use in the Australian Twin Register: Genetic and Social Determinants of Starting to Drink

Abstract

Relig~~ affiliation) and psychosocial variables (e.g.. personality and attitu­ dinal traits). assessed when the twins were adults, were compara­ tively poor predictors of teenage drinking., Environmental influences on onset of drinking appeared to be scx-specif'te, i.e., uncorreIated ov~r twins froIp unlike-sex pairs. Among drinkers, ~rty versus late onset of drinking was more strongly influenced by inherited factors in females, but by shared features of the social environment (e.g., family background or school experience) in males.