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High‐Intensity Drinking Among Young Adults in the United States: Prevalence, Frequency, and Developmental Change
Author(s) -
Patrick Megan E.,
TerryMcElrath Yvonne M.,
Kloska Deborah D.,
Schulenberg John E.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.13164
Subject(s) - binge drinking , demography , longitudinal study , young adult , attendance , alcohol consumption , medicine , injury prevention , monitoring the future , early adulthood , suicide prevention , psychology , poison control , gerontology , environmental health , alcohol , substance abuse , psychiatry , chemistry , pathology , economics , economic growth , sociology , biochemistry
Background This study is the first to examine the developmental course of high‐intensity drinking (i.e., consuming 10+ drinks in a row) across late adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Methods National longitudinal data ( N = 3,718) from Monitoring the Future were used to examine trajectories of 10+ high‐intensity drinking from age 18 through 25/26 overall and across sociodemographic subgroups; results were compared with similar analysis of 5+ binge drinking trajectories. Results Results document that 10+ drinkers consume not just a greater quantity of alcohol on a given drinking occasion, but also engage in 5+ drinking more frequently than drinkers who do not report having 10 or more drinks. Developmental patterns for 10+ and 5+ drinking were similar, with peak frequencies reported at age 21/22. Greater peaks in both 10+ and 5+ drinking were documented among men and among college attenders, compared with women and nonattenders, respectively. However, there was a steeper decline in 10+ drinking after age 21/22, indicating that risk for consumption of 10 or more drinks in a row is more clearly focused on the early 20s. Patterns of developmental change in both behaviors were driven largely by college students: No significant age‐related change in 10+ drinking was observed among men and women who did not go to college, and no significant age‐related change in 5+ drinking was observed among female nonattenders. Conclusions Findings underscore the importance of recognizing high‐intensity drinkers as a unique high‐risk group, and that college attendance is associated with particularly strong peaks in the developmental course of high‐intensity drinking.