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ABSTRACT
Early alcohol drinking onset (ADO) is associated with adult alcohol misuse, but the accuracy of ADO is unclear. Reliability of self-reported ADO was studied in two panels of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. For the Adult sample (n = 6,215), the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was .36. Older respondents had higher reliabilities and reported later ADO than younger ones. In the Child/ Young Adult sample, reliability varied from .19 for children 11 and 13 years old to .29 for children 12 and 14 years old. These low reliabilities and the age effect in reported ADO may affect epidemiologic research and interventions using this variable.