Alcohol Use by Age 14 Increases Risk of Drinking into Adulthood.
Alcohol Use by Age 14 Increases Risk of Drinking into Adulthood
New study findings signal a need for continued alcohol misuse prevention and related programming from adolescence into early adulthood, even among people who do not drink frequently.
Current research suggests that average alcohol use increases during late adolescence, peaks at age 21, and then decreases into adulthood. But a new study led by a School of Public Health researcher shows that drinking patterns from youth into adulthood are actually much more varied among certain subgroups of youth.
Published online ahead of print in the journal Addiction, the study takes a comprehensive look at alcohol consumption among youth into adulthood and identifies several variations of drinking and binge drinking frequency patterns—such as rare or infrequent, low, moderate, or high-frequency use—as well as age of first-time consumption.
In addition to youth who abstain from drinking, consume consistently low amounts of alcohol, or increase drinking and peak around age 21, the research team identified a “high-frequency” subgroup of youth who reported drinking at a peak of 15 days within the past month at age 25; as well as a “late-escalating” subgroup (whose drinking accelerated during their mid-20’s), who drank at a peak of 9 days within the last month.
Compared to the youth who consumed alcohol less frequently, these two subgroups included a higher proportion of individuals who were male, white, and/or had a parent/guardian with at least a high school degree/GED.
Those who binge drank—consuming five or more drinks at a time—followed largely similar patterns.
Notably, the findings show that youth who began drinking on or before age 14 were more likely to drink or binge drink beyond adolescence.
The findings provide new insight into how adolescent drinking patterns may predict the extent to which youth consume alcohol later in life, how these patterns vary by demographics and other characteristics, and how this information can inform targeted prevention efforts—an important focus of National Alcohol Awareness Month in April—even among those with low prior alcohol use.
“The information from this cohort of individuals who are now well into adulthood may help inform prevention and harm-reduction strategies for current adolescents and young adults,” says study lead and corresponding author Lynsie Ranker, postdoctoral associate in the Department of Community Health Sciences.
The nationally representative study surveyed more than 8,000 people from age 15 to 30 about alcohol use within the last 30 days, from 1997 to 2015. The study focused on participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, an ongoing federally run study of US adolescents born between 1980 and 1984. The large-scale nature of this study enabled researchers to identify these distinct variations in drinking patterns among youth into adulthood.
Ranker says the youth who drink frequently or who begin at older ages are particularly intriguing from a public health perspective.
“For the high-frequency group, earlier initiation of drinking may partially explain this relationship but there may be other factors that are related to why someone may follow this pattern rather than the more moderate pattern that peaks around age 21 before declining,” she says.“Additional research may help identify important contextual influences and possible opportunities to intervene and move folks to a lower risk use pattern.”
She says the late-escalating group may be overlooked in current public health initiatives, which focus primarily on adolescence and the early 20’s. “These results suggest opportunities for continued interventions and support as individuals transition into adulthood.”
The study’s senior author is Ziming Xuan, professor of community health sciences. Co-authors include Jennifer Weuve, associate professor of epidemiology, Craig Ross, research assistant professor of epidemiology at the time of the study, and Abby Rudolph, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Temple University College of Public Health at the time of the study.