Solitary Alcohol Use in Adolescence Predicts Alcohol Problems in Adulthood: A 17-Year Longitudinal Study in a Large National Sample of US High School Students
Researchers evaluated whether solitary alcohol use in adolescence (age 18) and young adulthood (ages 23–24) was associated with concurrent binge drinking and prospective alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms at age 35. They examined longitudinal data from the Monitoring the Future study, completed by adolescents in 12th grade at age 18, young adults ages 23–24, and adults at age 35. Researchers found that solitary alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood was associated with concurrent binge drinking and an increased risk of AUD symptoms at age 35. Adolescent solitary alcohol use was particularly associated with AUD symptoms at age 35 among females.
This paper, “Solitary alcohol use in adolescence predicts alcohol problems in adulthood: A 17-year longitudinal study in a large national sample of US high school students,” was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and published in the journal Drug and alcohol dependence.
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