Alcohol Behaviors and Drug Use between Adolescence and Young Adulthood

This research investigates how alcohol frequency and intensity relate to concurrent drug use across adolescent, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood. Alcohol use can be defined by frequency and intensity of use. Unfortunately, alcohol use is inconsistently represented in literature. Some studies conceptualize alcohol use by frequency, how often an individual drinks alcohol. Other studies conceptualize alcohol use by intensity, how often an individual feel drunk or drinks several alcoholic beverages in a single sitting. Inconsistency in the research makes it difficult to delineate the differential effect of alcohol frequency and alcohol intensity on health outcomes. Alcohol use is associated with other risky health behaviors including drug use. Literature indicates that alcohol can act as a gateway to other drugs. The association between alcohol and drug use likely changes based on alcohol use behaviors. Similarly, it is expected that the association between alcohol and drug use changes based on developmental stages. A longitudinal, repeated measures logistic regression was conducted to delineate the association between alcohol frequency and intensity across three developmental stages; adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood. Results indicate that drug use is associated with both alcohol frequency and intensity. Furthermore, there is a significant interaction between developmental stage and alcohol behaviors. During adolescence, there is a higher probability of concurrent drug use associated with alcohol use behaviors. This relationship decreases linearly across time, such that there is a decreased probability of concurrent substance use across both alcohol frequency and intensity behaviors as the population ages. Gender difference also exist, that have male engaging in more drug use than females, except for females who are high frequency and intensity alcohol users