The most important finding in this study is the independent link between alcohol consumption and vulnerability to violence, in particular, that non-fighting adolescents who drank had much more often been hit than non-fighting non-drinkers. Overall, strength of association between drunkenness and drinking frequency and measures of physical aggression and vulnerability were similar, suggesting that severe intoxication did not increase risks above those associated with drinking frequency. Adolescent aggression and violence have been causing widespread public and political concern in many Western countries. Much of the blame for violence is attributed to alcohol consumption, in particular, heavy “binge drinking.” This study was designed to examine concurrently the relationship between adolescent drinking and both violence and vulnerability to injury. The study hypothesized that fighting was associated more strongly with drunkenness than with frequency of alcohol consumption, and that drinking frequency and drunkenness predisposed to vulnerability to be physically hit. This was a cross-sectional study of 4,187 adolescents aged 11 to 16 in a sample of 13 English schools. Tables, references