Maturing Out of Problematic Alcohol Use

and co-principal investigator on the Monitoring the Future study, both positions in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Problematic alcohol use—that is, heavy drinking, or drinking that is accompanied by unpleasant consequences—tends to increase as people go through late adolescence, peaking at about age 22 or so, and then decline as they grow older. Some researchers consider this decline, which has been studied for more than 70 years in many different countries and cultures (Fillmore 1988; Johnstone et al. 1996), a “maturing out” of problem drinking. This process is believed to result when people reach their twenties and take on the roles and responsibilities of adulthood (Bachman et al. 2002; Yamaguchi and Kandel 1985). (For information about alcohol use among young people in other cultures, see the article in this issue by Ahlström and Österberg.) The transition to adult roles typically involves endin