A review of correlates of alcohol use and alcohol problems in adolescence.

The literature on correlates of adolescent alcohol use has generally identified similar correlates, despite differences in types of populations studied, definitions of both alcohol use and potential correlates, and time periods over which use is assessed. Still at issue, however, is the relative importance of each correlate. This chapter summarizes the principal findings from recent literature about demographic, social, and psychiatric correlates of adolescent alcohol use. Given that part of an effective national antidrug policy will be curbing society's appetite for drugs, which begins in adolescence and in which alcohol plays a large role, it is a propitious time to call for more intensive inquiry into the mechanisms underlying the above-identified correlates of adolescent alcohol use.