Who Needs Binge Drinking with Friends When You Can Watch TV? A Growth Curve Analysis of Peer Influences and Television Usage as Predictors of Adolescent Binge Drinking.

This study examined longitudinal data from a large survey (n = 18,924) to explore adolescents' peer influences and television viewing as predictors of their binge drinking using latent growth curve modeling. Peer influences predicted binge drinking, both initially and over time. More interestingly, and in apparent contrast to some theoretical models of television's influence, respondents who watched more television showed lower levels of binge drinking initially and a smaller increase in binge drinking over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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