Adolescent predictors of alcohol use in adulthood: A 22-year longitudinal study

The excessive consumption of alcohol is a major issue in the United States and elsewhere. It is associated with a number of adverse health consequences, as well as difficulty in relationships and employment. Therefore, the present longitudinal study investigates the direct and indirect adolescent predictors of alcohol use in adulthood.

Among the 674 participants (53% African Americans, 47% Puerto Ricans), 60% were females (n = 405). Mplus software was used to perform structural equation modeling.

Parental problems with alcohol use in the participants' late adolescence were related to low parent-child attachment in late adolescence, which in turn, was related to self delinquency in late adolescence. This was related to peer delinquency in emerging adulthood, which in turn, was associated with alcohol use in emerging adulthood and in adulthood. Low parent-child attachment in late adolescence was also related to low satisfaction with school in late adolescence, which in turn, was related to self delinquency in late adolescence. This was associated with alcohol use in emerging adulthood, which in turn, was associated with alcohol use in adulthood.

One of the key implications of this study is that an impaired low parent-child attachment relationship is a determinant of children's engagement in delinquent behavior and ultimately the use of alcohol in adult life. Implications for social interventions from the findings of the current study were also discussed. (Am J Addict 2016;25:549-556).