Heavy Episodic Alcohol Use in Emerging Adulthood: The Role of Early Risk Factors and Young Adult Social Roles

Abstract

In this paper we examine the potential interdependence between early adolescent alcohol use and later role occupancy of such social roles as higher education attendance, parenthood, level of work intensity, and marriage. Data from a ten-year prospective study (1990–1993 & 2000–2003) were employed to examine these relationships among a sample of 523 young adult males who had previously attended a Miami-Dade County (Florida) middle or high school. Among the adult social roles considered, only being currently married was shown to be a significant predictor of having an inverse association with heavy alcohol use. However, an important conditional relationship was also observed: among those respondents who have a history of high early alcohol use, there is an association between work intensity and heavy alcohol use such that work intensity has a social amplification effect on young adult heavy alcohol use. The results presented here demonstrate that early risk factors need to be considered in conjunction with later social role occupancy when examining young problem drinking. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.