Adolescent alcohol use, sociability and income as a young adult

We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to study how sociability and adolescent alcohol use impact personal income as a young adult. We find that factors which enhance not only individual sociability but also social interaction at the community level are positively linked to future earnings of adolescents. Adolescents whose friends and friends of friends have greater sociability reap long-term labour market rewards into adulthood. After adjusting for individual and community sociability, the effect of teenage alcohol consumption on labour market earnings as young adults is reduced. Our results suggest that earnings premiums associated with adolescent alcohol consumption may be partially explained by social network dynamics.