A survey of research literature on teenage alcohol use will reveal many variables related to teenage drinking. This study compared these variables in two separate communities to ascertain their global validity. To investigate factors leading to teenage alcohol use, 218 high school seniors from Washington and Iowa were surveyed. Dependent variables of boredom and activity were included with variables that other research had found to be significant. A multiple analysis of variance indicated significant differences in the dependent variables across the four levels of alcohol use (abstainers, light drinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers) and between states. The findings suggest that alcohol use by adolescents correlates with the variables of religion, boredom, grade point average, activities, and peer consumption. A path analysis for each state using father nurturance, mother nurturance, religiousness, depression, boredom, grade point average, sports, school activities, peer consumption, and alcohol consumption revealed that paths for students in Washington and for students in Iowa were significantly different from each other, suggesting that each community may have its own equation for the onset of adolescent drinking. (NB)