Adolescent Alcohol Use and Young Adult Psychosocial Functioning

描述(申请人提供)：尽管未成年人饮酒是非法的，但青春期饮酒在我们的社会中很普遍。许多研究表明，在青春期后期和成年期，开始饮酒的早期年龄与酒精问题之间存在正相关关系。事实上，推迟饮酒开始年龄是大多数旨在防止青少年饮酒的方案和政策的关键目标。之前研究这一问题的工作的局限性在于，很少有研究评估关键的风险因素，这些因素可以预测早期酒精使用的开始，随着时间的推移，使用的逐步升级，以及青春期和青春期过程中的酒精问题，以及风险因素和饮酒模式之间的潜在相互关系。此外，特定类别的风险因素可能有助于区分正常的饮酒模式和更有问题的饮酒模式的发展。在有利于饮酒的社会环境中进入青春期，可能预示着发病时间较早，饮酒频率更高，但当出现额外的心理动机，如不良适应和自我控制能力时，这可能会导致醉酒、酗酒和饮酒模式，在过渡到青壮年期间迅速升级。此外，对发病时间、早期饮酒模式、随时间增加的速度和早期风险因素可能有助于年轻人酒精问题的中介机制知之甚少。鉴于酒精使用的流行病学和病因学方面的显著性别差异，需要开展更多的工作，重点研究早期饮酒的长期影响中的性别差异。同样重要的是要确定早期和不断增加的饮酒对后来的饮酒问题和社会、职业、法律和金融领域的心理社会功能受损的影响的普遍程度。拟议的研究旨在研究不同类别的风险因素如何影响青春期酒精使用的初始模式和升级，以确定哪些人最有可能在过渡到青春期期间出现酒精和毒品问题及相关困难。]这将通过对来自一项更大的药物滥用预防试验的13年纵向数据集的二级数据分析来实现。该数据集的独特之处在于，它包含了从青春期到成年期的个体的丰富变量阵列。除了自我报告数据外，我们还将检查以前从纽约州机动车管理局记录中收集的危险和受损驾驶结果。最终，预计这些发现将通过确定关键指标和行为模式来改善公共健康，这些指标和行为模式会使年轻人面临以后与酒精相关的问题的风险，然后可以用来确定哪些人可以从有针对性的酒精预防计划中受益最大。 公共卫生相关性：拟议研究的一个中心目标是研究青春期早期饮酒如何影响随后的酒精和药物使用/滥用、使用的负面后果、相关的危险行为，以及青春期后期和过渡到青年时期的其他心理社会适应指标。这将通过对来自一项更大的药物滥用预防试验的控制组参与者的二级数据分析来实现，该试验评估了参与者从青春期早期到成年初期的13年时间。预计这些发现将通过确定关键指标和行为模式来改善公共健康，这些指标和行为模式会使年轻人面临以后与酒精相关的问题和其他问题的风险，进而可以用来确定哪些人可能从有针对性的酒精预防或治疗计划中受益最大。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcohol use during adolescence is prevalent in our society, despite the fact that alcohol consumption for minors is illegal. Numerous studies have demonstrated a positive association between early age of onset of alcohol use and alcohol problems in later adolescence and adulthood. In fact, delaying the age of drinking onset is a key goal of most programs and policies designed to prevent adolescent alcohol use. A limitation of previous work examining this issue is that few studies have assessed critical risk factors that predict early alcohol use onset, escalation of use over time, and later alcohol problems over the course of adolescence and young adulthood and the potential reciprocal relationships among risk factors and drinking patterns. Furthermore, specific categories of risk factors may help distinguish normative drinking patterns and the development of more problematic drinking patterns. Entering adolescence in a social environment conducive to drinking may predict early timing of onset and more frequent drinking, but when additional psychological motives such as poor adjustment and poor self-control are present, this may lead to drunkenness, binge drinking and drinking patterns that escalate rapidly during the transition to young adulthood. Furthermore, little is known about the mediating mechanisms through which timing of onset, patterns of early alcohol use, rate of increase over time, and early risk factors may contribute to alcohol problems among young adults. More work is needed that focuses on gender differences in the long-term impact of early alcohol use, given the significant gender differences in the epidemiology and etiology of alcohol use. It is also important to determine how pervasive the effects of early and escalating alcohol use are in terms of later drinking problems and impaired psychosocial functioning in social, occupational, legal, and financial domains. The proposed study aims to examine how different categories of risk factors affect initial patterns and escalation of alcohol use during adolescence in order to identify those individuals most likely to develop subsequent alcohol and drug problems and related difficulties during the transition to young adulthood.] This will be accomplished via secondary data analyses of a 13-year longitudinal dataset from a larger drug abuse prevention trial. The dataset is unique in that it contains a rich array of variables among individuals followed from adolescence into young adulthood. In addition to self-report data, we will examine risky and impaired driving outcomes that were previously collected from New York State Department of Motor Vehicle records. Ultimately, it is anticipated that these findings will improve public health by identifying key indicators and behavior patterns that place young people at risk for later alcohol- related problems, which can then be used to identify individuals who could benefit most from targeted alcohol prevention programs. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: A central goal of the proposed study is to examine how alcohol use during early adolescence affects subsequent alcohol and drug use/abuse, negative consequences of use, related risk behaviors, and other indicators of psychosocial adjustment during late adolescence and the transition to young adulthood. This will be accomplished via secondary data analyses of control group participants from a larger drug abuse prevention trial that assessed participants over a 13-year span from early adolescence to young adulthood. It is anticipated that the findings will improve public health by identifying key indicators and behavior patterns that place young people at risk for later alcohol-related and other problems, which can in turn be used to identify those individuals who could benefit most from targeted alcohol prevention or treatment programs.