Trajectories of Alcohol and Drug Use and Dependence from Adolescence to Adulthood: The Effects of Familial Alcoholism and Personality

This study describes trajectories of substance use and dependence from adolescence to adulthood. Identified consumption groups include heavy drinking/heavy drug use, moderate drinking/experimental drug use, and light drinking/rare drug use. Dependence groups include alcohol only, drug only, and comorbid groups. The heavy drinking/heavy drug use group was at risk for alcohol and drug dependence and persistent dependence and showed more familial alcoholism, negative emotionality, and low constraint. The moderate drinking/experimental drug use group was at risk for alcohol dependence but not comorbid or persistent dependence and showed less negative emotionality and higher constraint. Familial alcoholism raised risk for alcohol and drug use and dependence in part because children from alcoholic families were more impulsive and lower in agreeableness. Substance use and substance use disorders show systematic age-related patterns, with adolescent onset, peaks in use and diag-nosed disorders in “emerging adulthood ” (ages 18–25; Arnett, 2000), and declines in use after the mid-twenties (Bachman, Wads-worth, O’Malley, Johnston, & Schulenberg, 1997; Chen & Kandel, 1995). However, despite these overall trends, there is also consid