Trajectories of Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Effect of Individual and Social Risk Factors by Race

ABSTRACT

This study examined racial differences across African-American, Hispanic, and White participants in the impact that individual and social risk factors have on drinking behavior trajectories. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health from seventh through ninth graders (N = 4,372) were used. Participants reported on frequency of drinking across the four waves and risk factors at Wave 1. Growth mixture modeling revealed four trajectories for alcohol use that included Abstainers, Early Starters, Late Starters, and De-Escalators. Social and individual indicators of risk were differently predictive of group membership to the problematic drinking trajectories. Differences across racial groups suggested that a lack of future orientation may be a salient risk factor for African-American and Hispanic youths' alcohol use, and peer alcohol use may be a salient risk factor for White youths' alcohol use. The findings of this study suggest that there may be individual differences in risk factors that provide insight for prevention efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• adolescence
• alcohol use trajectories
• growth mixture modeling
• race
• risk factors

Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.