The variable effects of stress on alcohol use from adolescence to early adulthood

Despite evidence of a strong association between stress and level of drinki ng in adolescent populations, the role of stress in accounting for changes in drinking behavior throughout the adolescent years is unclear. This study uses a linear growth curve analysis to examine the determinants of within- individual changes in drinking frequency and binge drinking across five wav es of data from a community sample of adolescents who were followed into yo ung adulthood. Predictors of drinking include: stressful life events, paren tal and peer social support, and parental and peer relationship problems. F indings indicate significant effects of stressful life events and parental support and conflict on both the frequency and intensity of alcohol use. Al though age-related changes in these variables coincide with changes in drin king behavior, they do not account for drinking variability over this perio d. Results from conditional models demonstrate that the impact of the stres s is contingent on age, and that the strong associations between drinking a nd stress evidenced during the high school years weaken considerably as ind ividuals move into their late teens and early twenties, Discussion centers on the complex motivations for and facilitators of drinking as young people mature and change environments over the adolescent years.