Effects of Early Drinking and an Antisocial Orientation on the Alcohol Use of Young Russians

Drawing upon data from the Survey of Deviant Behavior Among Youth in the Moscow Region of Russia, this paper examines the effects of early drinking behavior and an antisocial orientation on the use of alcohol by young Russians. Using available data from the U.S. National Household Survey of Drug Abuse, the use of alcohol and the effects of early drinking among youth in the Moscow Region and the United States are compared. The analysis of the data from the two surveys indicates that a greater proportion of Russian youth began drinking by the age of 12 but that early drinking is associated with subsequent alcohol use among both Russian and American youth. Although there are no data on an antisocial orientation from the U.S. survey, there are such data from the Russian survey and an analysis of this data indicates that the greatest alcohol use is found among young Russians who began drinking by the age of 12 and who have an antisocial orientation.