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ABSTRACT
Background: Alcohol use is a key risk factor for young adult mortality and disease, but limited research has focused on high-risk alcohol use among individuals moving from early young adulthood into building and maintaining an initial structure of adult life. This study estimated the prevalence of a range of alcohol use behaviors among US young adults aged 25/26, examined evidence for historical change in prevalence rates, and estimated associations between alcohol use and key demographic, substance use, and adult social role characteristics. Methods: Data were obtained from 3542 individuals selected for follow-up from the nationally representative 12th-grade student Monitoring the Future study. Respondents self-reported alcohol use behaviors at age 25/26 during calendar years 2005–2014. Results: Two fifths (39.9%) of young adults aged 25/26 reported being intoxicated at least once in the past 30 days; 25.6% reported usually experiencing a sustained high of 3 or more hours when drinking alcohol. Past-2-week binge drinking (5+ drinks in a row) was reported by 36.3% of respondents. Past-2-week high-intensity drinking (10+ drinks in a row) was reported by 12.4%. These age 25/26 alcohol use prevalence rates remained stable over the 10 years of data examined, in contrast to significant declines over historical time in alcohol prevalence rates among these same individuals at age 18. High-risk drinking was particularly associated with being male, white, unmarried, employed, a nonparent, and an alcohol user before finishing high school. Conclusions: Among US young adults in their mid-20s, alcohol use was highly normative and frequently included participation in high-risk drinking behaviors. High-risk alcohol use prevention approaches developed specifically to reach young adults in their mid-20s are needed, as well as efforts to increase proactive clinician screening to identify young adults participating in high-risk alcohol use.
Funding
Development of this paper was supported by research grant R01AA023504 (to M. Patrick) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Data collection was supported by research grants R01DA001411 and R01DA016575 (to L. Johnston) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study sponsors had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the study sponsor. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Yvonne M. Terry-McElrath
Ms. Terry-McElrath and Dr. Patrick contributed equally to the manuscript with respect to concept, interpretation of data, and the write-up of results. Ms. Terry-McElrath conducted the analysis.
Megan E. Patrick
Ms. Terry-McElrath and Dr. Patrick contributed equally to the manuscript with respect to concept, interpretation of data, and the write-up of results. Ms. Terry-McElrath conducted the analysis.