Teenagers who have their first drink at an early age are more likely to become a binge drinker or even an alcoholic, a new study has warned.

An early age of onset of drinking is a risk factor for subsequent heavy drinking and negative outcomes, scientists found.

The study found that starting to use alcohol at an early age and quickly progressing to drinking to intoxication jointly are related to underage alcohol use and binge drinking.

Meghan E Morean, assistant professor of psychology at Oberlin College, Ohio and adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine asked 295 adolescent drinkers (163 females, 132 males) who were predominantly Caucasian with an average age of 16 years to complete an anonymous survey about their substance use in February of 2010.

These self-report questions assessed AO and age at first intoxication - for example, "How old were you the first time you tried alcohol/got drunk?" - as well as the previous month's consumption of alcohol, including an assessment of the frequency of engaging in binge drinking (defined as more than 5 drinks).

"Our research suggests that teenagers who have their first drink at an early age drink more heavily, on average, than those who start drinking later on," said Morean.

"Our work also suggests that how quickly teenagers move from having their first drink to getting drunk for the first time is an important piece of the puzzle.

"In total, having your first drink at a young age and quickly moving to drinking to the point of getting drunk are associated with underage alcohol use and binge drinking, which we defined as five or more drinks on an occasion in this study.

"To summarise, we would expect a teenager who had his first drink at age 14, and who got drunk at 15, to be a heavier drinker than a teenager who had his first drink at age 14, and waited to get drunk until age 18," Morean said.

"The key finding here is that both age of first use and delay from first use to first intoxication serve as risk factors for heavy drinking in adolescence," added William R Corbin, associate professor and director of clinical training in the department of psychology at Arizona State University.

The research appears in Alcoholism: Clinical Experimental Research.