Teens who have friends who drink are more likely to drink themselves, many studies have found, but this influence may be especially strong for girls, a study of 4,700 twins has found. Male and female teens who have opposite-sex friends who drink are likely to drink even more.

The researchers, led by Danielle Dick of Virginia Commonwealth University, examined a twin study of behavioral development and health-risk factors from Finland to analyze the association between friendship characteristics and alcohol use.

"Our findings suggest that girls may be more susceptible to their friends' drinking," said Dick in a news release, "and that having opposite-sex friends who drink is also associated with increased drinking, for both sexes. Furthermore, genetically based analyses suggest that the correlation between adolescent and/or friend drinking was largely attributable to shared environmental effects across genders.

"This suggests that the association between an adolescent's alcohol use and that of his or her peers is not merely a reflection of genetic influences on the adolescent's own alcohol use that cause them to select drinking peers."

Be Aware of Teens' Friends

Risk factors of peer pressure is stronger for girls, said Kenneth J. Sher, of the University of Missouri.

"Those who design and implement prevention approaches should take gender into account as a potentially critical moderator of prevention outcomes," said Sher. "We need to better understand the 'why' of sex differences in risk in order to shed important light on the nature of risk processes. For example, are girls potentially more 'vulnerable' to peer-related effects at this stage of life because they are likely to be more intimately involved with their closest friends than are boys" That is, does gender simply serve as a 'proxy' of a variable such as intimacy or closeness during this time of their lives?'"

The authors warn parents to be aware of their child's friends, as well as how they spend their time together. "This awareness," said Dick, "is particularly important for girls, and when the friendship group consists of members of the opposite sex."

Related Information:

• Talking About Drinking Helps
  
• Early Spirituality Deters Alcohol Abuse
  
• Prevention Tips for Parents

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