Age at drinking onset, age at first intoxication, and delay to first intoxication: Assessing the concurrent validity of measures of drinking initiation with alcohol use and related problems.

Journal: Addictive behaviors
PMID: 29304425

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Drinking at an early age (AO) and quickly progressing to drinking to intoxication (Delay=Age of Intoxication[AI]-AO) confer risk for alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. However, inconsistencies exist in the literature, which may reflect the use of different definitions of AO and AI. We evaluated whether 1) defining AO as age at first sip of alcohol (AO sip) versus age at which at least one standard drink was consumed (AO drink); and 2) defining AI as age at first "drunk" (AI drunk) versus age at first binge episode (≥5 standard drinks consumed; AI binge) resulted in different self-reported ages or differentially predicted drinking outcomes.

Authors

  • Meghan E Morean
    Oberlin College, Department of Psychology, 120 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA; Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, 34 Park St., New Haven, CT 06519, USA. Electronic address: meghan.morean@oberlin.edu.
  • Alexa L'Insalata
    Oberlin College, Department of Psychology, 120 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA. Electronic address: Alinsatala@stanford.edu.
  • Ellyn R Butler
    Oberlin College, Department of Psychology, 120 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA. Electronic address: Ellyn.Butler@oberlin.edu.
  • Avalon McKee
    Oberlin College, Department of Psychology, 120 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA.
  • Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin
    Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, 34 Park St., New Haven, CT 06519, USA.

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