Associations of age of drinking initiation with other vulnerability factors for alcohol involvement among Chinese, Korean and White college students

As a whole, Asians have lower rates of alcohol dependence (AD) than Whites. Among Asian subgroups Chinese have lower rates of AD than Koreans. The prevalence of several risk and protective factors for the development of AD vary between these ethnic groups. The most consistent evidence concerns differences in (1) the prevalence of genetic variants of the alcohol metabolizing enzymes aldehyde and alcohol dehydrogenase (ALDH2*2 and ADH1B*2), which protect against AD, and (2) the prevalence of risk factors including conduct disorder (CD), sensation seeking, family history of AD (FH), and parental alcohol use. Research has begun to clarify relationships among risk factors, including mediating and moderating relationships in the etiology of AD. One mechanism whereby vulnerability factors may modify risk for AD is by influencing the age of drinking initiation (ADI). In studies using primarily White participants, an early ADI has been associated with increased rates of alcohol involvement. The current study used structural equation modeling in a sample of Chinese (n = 190), Korean (n = 214), and White ( n = 200) college students to examine whether ADI is a mediator of vulnerability factors for alcohol involvement in each ethnic and gender group. The structural equation model demonstrated adequate fit across gender and ethnic groups. CD and sensation seeking were associated with alcohol involvement in each ethnic and gender group. ADI did not mediate the associations between CD, sensation seeking and alcohol involvement.