Transitioning into and out of large-effect drinking in young adulthood

As individuals age beyond the college years into young adulthood, many exhi bit a tendency to moderate or "mature out of" alcohol involvement. The curr ent study classified effect-drinking statuses in young adults and examined transitions among statuses using latent transition analysis, a latent varia ble state-sequential model for longitudinal data. At 3 occasions over 7 yea rs (Years 1, 4, and 7), 443 men (47%) and women (mean age of both at baseli ne = 18.5 years; 51% with family history of alcoholism) responded to 3 past -30-day items assessing drinking and subjective effects of drinking: whethe r the respondent drank alcohol, felt high, and felt drunk. Latent statuses included abstainers (14% at Year I), limited-effect drinkers (8%), moderate -effect drinkers (23%), and large-effect drinkers (54%). Respondents with f amily history of alcoholism were less likely to transition out of large-eff ect drinking than those without family history. Men exhibited more severe i nitial effect-drinking statuses and lower transition probabilities into les s severe effect-drinking statuses than women.