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Introduction and Aims. This study aimed at comparing adolescent abstainers, consumers and excessive drinkers in terms of family characteristics (structure of family, socioeconomic factors), perceived social support, personality characteristics (extraversion, self-esteem, aggression) and well-being. Design and Methods. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 3694 elementary school students in the 8th and 9th grades from several cities in Slovakia (mean age 14.5, 49.0% men; response rate 93%). Respondents completed questions on the use of alcohol and on family structure (parental divorce), the socioeconomic position of the family (parents' education and family affluence), perceived social support, extraversion, self-esteem, aggression and psychological well-being. They were split into three groups based on the pattern of alcohol use-abstainers, consumers and excessive drinkers (i.e. being drunk at least once during the past 4 weeks). Results. The results showed significant differences between abstainers, consumers and excessive drinkers in almost every characteristic explored. A risky pattern of alcohol consumption occurs more frequently among adolescents who have divorced parents, higher socioeconomic position, higher scores for perceived social support from friends, extraversion, negative self-esteem and aggression, and lower scores for social support from family and for well-being. Discussion and Conclusions. A risky pattern of alcohol consumption is more likely among relatively easily identifiable groups of adolescents from high socioeconomic position and divorced families. Their personalities and social networks have characteristics that could be accommodated in preventive interventions as well. [Tomcikova Z, Madarasova Geckova A, van Dijk JP, Reijneveld SA. Characteristics of adolescent excessive drinkers compared with consumers and abstainers. Drug Alcohol Rev 2010].

This study applies multilevel social network analytic techniques to examine processes of homophilic selection and social influence related to alcohol use among friends in early adolescence. Participants included 3,041 Dutch youth (M age =12 years, 49% female) from 120 classrooms in 14 schools. Three waves with 3-month intervals of friendship nomination data and self-reports of drinking behavior were collected. Results revealed that within classrooms, friendship nominations tended to be reciprocated and dyadic friendships tended to be embedded within cohesive subgroups (e.g., cliques). Students tended to nominate friends who were the same sex, from a similar ethnic background, and who they previously knew from primary school. Selection processes turned out to play a more significant role than social influence processes in predicting similarity between early adolescent friends' alcohol use. Although friendship dynamics and individual drinking trajectories substantially differed between classrooms, the effects of homophilic selection and social influence did not.