Teen daters pal up to the bottle

A romantic partner's friends strongly sway alcohol use

Teenage romance, that feverish swamp of intensity and angst, comes with friendly baggage. Pals of a boyfriend or girlfriend strongly influence an adolescent’s alcohol use, for better or worse, a new study finds.

A romantic partner’s friends tend to have different habits and pursuits than a love-struck teen and his or her own social circle, say sociologists Derek Kreager of Pennsylvania State University in University Park and Dana Haynie of Ohio State University.