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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 1998;279:494.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The earlier a person starts drinking, the greater the likelihood he or she will one day abuse alcohol, according to a new report released last month by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Individuals who began drinking before the age of 15 years were 4 times more likely to develop alcohol dependence (alcoholism) and twice as likely to abuse alcohol as people who began drinking at the age of 21 years.

The report (J Subst Abuse. 1998;9:103-110) was based on interviews with nearly 43000 adults who were asked when they first began drinking alcohol.

The investigators found that more than 40% of respondents who began drinking before the age of 15 years developed alcohol dependence at some time in their lives, compared with 24.5% of respondents who began drinking at age 17 years and about 10% of those who began drinking at the . . . [Full Text of this Article]