Monday, January 28, 2013

Best friends influence when teenagers have first drink

University of Iowa
Chances are the only thing you remember about your first swig of alcohol is how bad the stuff tasted. What you didn’t know is the person who gave you that first drink and when you had it says a lot about your predisposition to imbibe later in life. A national study by a University of Iowa-led team has found that adolescents who get their first drink from a friend are more likely to drink sooner in life, which past studies show makes them more prone to abusing alcohol when they get older. The finding is designed to help specialists predict when adolescents are likely to first consume alcohol, with the aim of heading off problem drinking at the pass.