GETTING DRUNK AND GROWING-UP - TRAJECTORIES OF FREQUENT BINGE DRINKING DURING THE TRANSITION TO YOUNG ADULTHOOD

Objective: The purpose of this study was: (1) to identify different tr ajectories of frequent binge drinking during the transition to young a dulthood; (2) to validate the trajectories by relating them to behavio rs and attitudes concerning alcohol and other drug use; and (3) to dis tinguish among the trajectories according to demographic characteristi cs and lifestyle experiences typical of the transition to young adulth ood. Method: Four waves of national panel data were obtained from the Monitoring the Future project; 9,945 weighted cases from the 1976-85 h igh school senior year cohorts were surveyed at biennial intervals bet ween ages 18 and 24. Frequent binge drinking was defined as having fiv e or more drinks in a row at least twice in the past two weeks. Result s: Six distinct frequent binge drinking trajectory groups were specifi ed a priori and confirmed with cluster analysis: Never, Rare, Chronic, Decreased, Increased and ''Fling.'' Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that the trajectories corresponded to patterns of change and stabilit y in problems with alcohol, attitudes about heavy drinking, peer heavy drinking and illicit drug use. Results from logistic regression analy ses predicting diverging and converging trajectories provided some sup port for the general hypothesis that trajectories of Chronic and Incre ased frequent binge drinking over time are associated with difficultie s in negotiating the transition to young adulthood. Conclusions: The f indings provide strong evidence for wide developmental variation in dr inking patterns in the population, variation that is obscured by more aggregate-level considerations. The developmental variation in frequen t binge drinking during the transition to young adulthood reflects sys tematic variation in success and difficulties with negotiating the tra nsition.