Age of onset of alcohol use and its association with parental and peer alcohol use from adolescence to young adulthood among Asian American adolescents

This study focuses on examining the relationship between different ages of onset of alcohol use and parental and peer alcohol use among Asian American adolescents. This longitudinal study used three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data. The sample includes 1584 Asian American adolescents in grades 7 to 12. The multiple imputation method using IVEware was employed for non-response. Kaplan-Meier survival function and the log-rank test were used to determine the relationship age of onset of alcohol drinking and the levels of parental and peer alcohol use.

The findings indicated predictors of alcohol use at different ages of onset that father's alcohol use, mother's alcohol use, and peer alcohol use as predictors of an earlier age of onset of alcohol use in younger adolescents. For youths under the age of 12, maternal and peer alcohol use predicted an early age of onset of alcohol use. For youths aged 12-14 and 15-18, paternal and peer alcohol use predicted the age of onset of alcohol use. However, peer alcohol use was a more influential factor in the age of onset of alcohol use in 12-14 age groups than the 15-18 age groups. Further, males tended to initiate alcohol use earlier than females. Males were more likely to start alcohol use in the middle school period, whereas females initiated alcohol use more often in the high school period. Thus, programs tailored to different adolescent age groups should be considered as intervention strategies for Asian American adolescents.