A longitudinal analysis of teenage drinking patterns

This paper examines the multinomial recurrent outcome 'teenage drinking' within a statistical modeling paradigm. The proposed statistical modeling relates drinking to a set of explanatory variables, which include subjective as well as objective measures. In order to assess the degree to which explanatory variables influence smoking, an adequate statistical model must handle the possibility that substantial variation between respondents will be due to omitted variables, multicollinearity and past behavior. To address these issues, longitudinal data using appropriate statistical modeling are essential. In this paper we demonstrate the application of appropriate longitudinal modeling using data from the Yorkshire (UK) Health Related Behavior Questionnaire. The results suggest there may be substantial heterogeneity due to omitted variables in the data and complex inter-relationships between observed explanatory variables. For example, social cultures of drinking and parental involvement appear to influence heavy drinking and drug use.