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Background: Regular drinking by age 14 years is a significant risk factor for alcoholism, and genetically informative data suggest that whether a young adolescent abstains or drinks is largely attributable to familial (or other shared) environmental factors.

Methods: Three consecutive birth cohorts of Finnish twins, enrolled into a longitudinal study at age 11 to 12 years, completed a follow‐up questionnaire within 3 months of their 14th birthdays. The sample included 1380 twin sisters and 1330 twin brothers at age 14, and at that age, 35.4% reported using alcohol. Genetic analyses (model‐fitting of twin pair data) and epidemiological analyses (logistical regressions of data from individual twins) were conducted to examine predictive factors of drinking versus abstinence at age 14.

Results: Polychoric correlations were substantial across all same‐sex twin pairs but were lower for brother‐sister twins, suggesting …