A cross-sectional study of 16-year-old girls (n 275) and boys (n 199) and their mothers was undertaken. It was found that eating breakfast less than five times per week was independently associated with a high soft drink consumption in both girls and boys. Neither soft drinks nor fruit juice was associated with BMI. It might be possible to influence fruit juice intake among teenagers by aiming at their mothers, whereas the adolescents themselves should be targeted when the aim is to reduce soft drink consumption.