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SUPPLEMENT ARTICLE |
a Departments of Psychology
f Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, California
b Departments of Psychology
j Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
c Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
d Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
e National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland
g Department of Psychology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
h Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
i Department of Psychological Studies, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
k National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, St Louis, Missouri
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ABSTRACT |
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 TOP ABSTRACT NORMATIVE PATTERNS OF...NORMATIVE PATTERNS OF ALCOHOL...RISK AND PROTECTIVE PROCESSESCONSEQUENCES OF ADOLESCENT...IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF...CONCLUSIONSREFERENCES |
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Key Words: alcohol • late adolescence • development
Abbreviations: AUD—alcohol use disorder • DWI—driving while intoxicated
In the United States, alcohol involvement sometimes starts but more often escalates between 16 and 20 years of age, when youths are also experiencing dramatic physical, emotional, and social changes. Specifically, a variety of forms of hazardous drinking emerge during middle to late adolescence and, for many youths, these problematic patterns of drinking continue to escalate through 18 to 20 years of age, the period of greatest risk for the onset of an alcohol use disorder (AUD).
In seeking to understand youth development and alcohol involvement, it is important to consider all dimensions of functioning, because the interrelated cognitive, biological, social, and affective changes that occur during adolescence not only affect each another but also influence an individual's risk of problem drinking. In particular, the timing, sequence, and synchrony of developmentally specific transitions can affect how well youths master new roles, as well as continuities and discontinuities in their behavior. Therefore, developmental models representing a range of theoretical orientations, including systems theory, behavioral genetics, and developmental psychopathology, hold great promise for advancing our understanding of the processes that underlie adolescent changes, including the emergence of alcohol use and abuse.
The need for developmental approaches is underscored by the existence of a consistent body of research showing that the escalation in drinking and the emergence of AUDs in middle and late adolescence have behavioral, social, and biological roots from earlier developmental stages. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that alcohol involvement in adolescence has both short- and long-term effects on health and well-being at later developmental stages. Importantly, the consequences of adolescent drinking seem to differ from those associated with adult drinking, because there is increasing evidence that adolescents are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of heavy alcohol use on both biological and social functioning. Problematic drinking has the potential to redirect the normative course of adolescent development in ways that increase risks not only for AUDs but also for a range of mental health and social problems.
From a developmental perspective, changes in contexts, processes, and developmental tasks all play critical roles in the evolution of drinking behavior during the transition from middle adolescence to young adulthood. The complex multilevel changes in youth drinking and associated behaviors both are bounded by and influence the adaptive capacity of the individual and relate directly to the success individuals experience as they transition through critical normative developmental tasks. For youths in this age range, these tasks include (but are not limited to) dating, obtaining a driver's license and driving, graduating from high school, entering/attending college, leaving the rearing home, entering the workforce or military, and marrying and forming a family.
In this review, a multisystem multilevel lens is created, through which adolescent alcohol involvement can be viewed in both its normative and maladaptive developmental roles. This lens not only provides a framework for characterizing the features of current prevention and intervention efforts that contribute to their success but also helps to identify new, more-effective approaches.
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NORMATIVE PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT |
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TOPABSTRACTNORMATIVE PATTERNS OF...NORMATIVE PATTERNS OF ALCOHOL...RISK AND PROTECTIVE PROCESSESCONSEQUENCES OF ADOLESCENT...IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF...CONCLUSIONSREFERENCES |
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The late adolescent years are characterized by major role transitions in every domain of life.1 Normative changes center around taking increasing responsibility for one's daily life, behavior, and future; moving toward less-dependent and more-mature relationships with the family of origin; exploring romantic and sexual relationships; and preparing for and initiating adult occupational roles, including pursuing postsecondary education and/or employment. Preparation for adult relationships includes the development of romantic and sexual relationships for most and cohabitation, engagement, marriage, and/or childbearing for some. Preparation for occupational life includes the completion (or leaving) of high school, beginning of formal paid work, and possibly initiation of postsecondary training.
As adolescents move beyond high school, they tend to spend more time in settings away from their homes and neighborhoods. Those who attend college full-time enter a new, age-graded, social environment, adaptation to which provides opportunities for a fresh start, even if it is stressful.2 For other youths, this is also the time of life when they leave their rearing homes and establish for the first time their own residences. Regardless of with whom they live, adolescents at this life stage typically assume increasing responsibility for managing their daily lives, including balancing studying and working with their social and leisure pursuits and making decisions regarding practical matters such as when to sleep and what to eat. The major developmental contexts and tasks for this life stage are summarized in Table 1.
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Aside from the traditional, age-based, categorical classifications, the law reflects a variety of transitional arrangements that attach privileges and responsibilities on a gradual basis. The most important of these are related to the licensing of drivers, which in many states progresses from learner's permits to provisional driver's licenses with restrictions and then to driver's licenses with full rights and responsibilities. Similar graduated transitional rules can be seen in the imposition of curfews, the regulation of youth employment, and mandatory education. Finally, the very purpose of the juvenile court was to serve a transitional role, and it continues to do so within a restricted sphere.
Increasing Importance of Individual Differences
Despite the almost-universal shift toward greater independence during late adolescence, the timing, sequence, and even occurrence of role changes differ greatly among individuals.3 This reflects in part the less age-graded, constricted, and obligatory nature of developmental transitions at this life stage, compared with childhood and early adolescence. As a consequence, the diversity of living contexts is greater in late adolescence than at any earlier developmental stage; characterization of this period in terms of the "typical" adolescent can be misleading. By age 20, for example, 
20% of adolescents are still single and living with their parents while attending college4; nearly 25% do not have a drivers' license. Although 86% of youths complete high school and 62% of those youths enroll in some college the year after they finish high school, only 29% have earned a bachelor degree by age 25. In part because of the diversity of options and available supports, social and cultural influences emerge as important influences at this life stage; academic attainment, the timing of romantic partnerships and childbearing, and the age of leaving the parental home all differ in complex ways according to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, neighborhood, and country of origin.5
Historical trends toward achieving traditional markers of adult status (full-time worker, spouse, and parent) at later ages contribute to the broad diversity of developmental contexts seen in late adolescence. The substantial differences seen in the timing, sequence, and even experience of developmental milestones preclude simple, universal, prescriptive descriptions for this age period. These factors also have resulted in this stage evolving to be more a preparation for than the achievement of adult status, leading to this life stage being designated a period of "emerging adulthood."5
Biological Development
Brain Development
Although it was once thought that human brain development was largely complete by the onset of puberty, it is now known that the brain continues to develop throughout adolescence and into young adulthood.6 Longitudinal research demonstrates that higher-order association cortices develop later than primary sensorimotor cortices, with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex developing through the latest stages of adolescence.7 These late developments represent complex interactions between synaptic refinement, which results in decreasing cortical gray matter volumes,7,8 and myelination,9 which is associated with increased cerebral white matter volumes8 and increased density, organization, and integrity of white matter pathways.9 These white matter changes result in neural signals transmitting more rapidly, permitting greater capacity for more-complex, higher-order reasoning and processing. This emerging view of adolescence as a period of continued neuroplasticity brings with it a recognition that this is also a period of vulnerability to neurotoxic processes, including those attributable to heavy alcohol exposure.
Sleep Changes
In general, teens need 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep per night, and this amount remains stable over adolescence, in contrast to preadolescence, when sleep needs fluctuate.10 The most significant change in adolescent sleep patterns is the delay of the intrinsic sleep phase. This means that teens often do not feel physiologically tired enough to fall asleep until late at night, resulting in late bedtimes (often after midnight) and the desire to sleep later in the morning, compared with younger children. This sleep pattern becomes problematic during the school year (when adolescents need to wake up early), resulting in an average weeknight sleep duration of 7 to 7.75 hours per night for high school-aged youths.11 The ensuing sleep debt accumulates over time, despite "catch-up" weekend sleep, resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness in a significant proportion of adolescents. In a 1997 report by the National Institutes of Health, adolescents and young adults were identified as a population at high risk for pathological sleepiness.12 The consequences of poor sleep and daytime sleepiness are vast and include poor academic performance, accidents while driving drowsy, negative mood, and self-medication with stimulants, alcohol, and other drugs of abuse.11,13
Development of Emotional and Behavioral Self-regulation
Self-regulation refers to the ability to control and to plan one's behaviors and to resist impulses to engage in behaviors that result in negative consequences. This factor can be measured in many ways (experimentally, self-reports, and parent or teacher reports). Self-regulation, as measured through maternal report for example, increases over childhood and early adolescence but seems relatively stable by late adolescence, with girls reporting higher levels than boys.14 The inability or unwillingness to inhibit behavioral impulses has long-term prognostic significance. Markers of disinhibited behavior in preschool-aged15 or elementary school-aged16 children predict AUD risk in late adolescence and early adulthood, whereas indicators of neurobehavioral disinhibition17 have been associated with increased risks for the development of adolescent substance use and problems.
The ability to regulate behavioral impulses is critical for successfully dealing with the increased exposure to risk that typically occurs during adolescence. Adolescents, especially those in late adolescence, are more likely than adults to engage in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex, hazardous driving, or heavy drinking.18 Age differences in risk-taking behavior may not, however, be attributable to adolescent deficits in the cognitive assessment of risk. By 15 years of age, adolescents seem to be as cognitively capable as adults with respect to logical assessment of the likelihood of risk and their vulnerability to risk.18 Therefore, rather than being attributable to deficiencies in logical analysis, the adolescent propensity for risk-taking may be a consequence of the way in which adolescents process social and emotional cues.19 For example, differences between adolescents and adults in risk-taking behavior are maximized when individuals are in the presence of peers and minimized when they are alone,20 which suggests that risk-taking may serve a social function in adolescence. Furthermore, the propensity for risk-taking may depend on 2 distinct brain networks, with different maturational trajectories during adolescence,19 (1) a cognitive control network, which is involved in planning and self-regulation and is localized primarily to lateral prefrontal and parietal cortical regions, and (2) a socioemotional network, which is involved in the processing of social and emotional stimuli and is localized primarily to the limbic system, including the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and medial prefrontal cortex.
Cognitive Development
Unique Cognitive Status of Adolescents
Many individuals working with adolescents perceive them to be "somewhere between childhood and adulthood ... in terms of cognitive development ... [such as] the ability to plan and anticipate."21 The cognitive differences between adolescents and adults are more subtle than those between children and adults, however, and primarily involve the domain of executive functioning. For example, inhibitory control develops on a gradient throughout adolescence, although some proportion of adolescents' improvement may be attributable to simple increases in the speed of processing.22 "Metacognition," the strategic, supervisory, and self-monitoring aspects of executive functioning,23 also continues to develop throughout adolescence, particularly in the effective use of available strategies.24 There is also evidence of gender differences in executive function development. Flexible control of verbal processing develops more quickly in girls than in boys, which suggests that boys may not achieve mature verbal control of their behavior until their late teens.25 Girls lag behind boys in the development of certain nonverbal tasks.26
Decision-making
Decision-making refers to the complex process involved in selecting an action among different options with various outcomes. This process involves multiple underlying cognitive abilities, which may develop at different rates. For example, logical reasoning, an obvious component of decision-making, develops throughout adolescence,27 as does one's management of reasoning biases and one's judgment of reasoning success.28 Social judgment and social problem-solving also improve through adolescence into early adulthood.29 Some studies have suggested that individuals in middle adolescence have a more-competent decision-making style than do those in early adolescence.30 Decision-making typically involves integrating factual knowledge with internal cognitive capacity, particularly executive functioning. In this regard, it is noteworthy that adolescents have a much larger gap between procedural knowledge (eg, memory skills and goal-oriented planning) and factual knowledge than do adults. This suggests that adolescents may lack strategic options for using extant factual knowledge. Adolescence is likely also a period of practice in applying executive strategies (procedural knowledge) to real-world problems that is crucial for normal development. Obviously, decision-making is related to the likelihood of alcohol abuse, particularly in decisions related to risk-taking and the projected assessment of consequences. In this regard, although most adolescents perform like adults on a gambling task, adolescents at risk for substance involvement may have decision-making impairments, demonstrating greater risk-taking in decision-making.31
Working Memory
Working memory refers to a constellation of interrelated cognitive processes that ultimately result in one's ability to hold temporarily and to manipulate information online.32 This ability is fundamental to intact performance in a variety of other cognitive domains, including language comprehension, abstract reasoning, and learning and memory. Verbal and spatial working memory abilities improve throughout childhood and adolescence,33 and working memory for spatial stimuli in particular continues to mature during the adolescent years.33 For example, older adolescents demonstrate better accuracy and faster reaction times than do younger adolescents during spatial working memory tasks.34 Functional MRI research has suggested that adolescents activate similar brain regions as do adults while engaged in working memory tasks35 but they show increased frontal and parietal brain activation, relative to younger adolescents,34,36 and greater34,36 and more-widespread36 activation, relative to adults.
Poor Executive Functions Predispose Subjects to Alcohol and Other Substance Use Disorders
Because executive functions mediate the complex interplay between thinking, affect, and social judgment, it is not surprising that research has confirmed associations with alcohol and drug abuse. Poorly developed executive functions are prominent in adolescents who are at high risk of developing alcohol/substance abuse problems, including those with conduct disorder,37 those with high Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale scores,38 and children of alcoholics.39 Individuals with attentional disorders (with impaired executive functioning, by definition) have high rates of alcohol and drug abuse and dependence, particularly when conduct disorder is comorbid.40 Executive function scores also predict the age at first drink,41 which is consistent with the finding that students using alcohol before the sixth grade show weaker decision-making skills.42 For children of alcoholics, executive function scores predicted the number of drinks per drinking occasion43 and reactive aggression.44 Executive functions also combine with coping styles45 and temperament46 to increase liability for abuse of substances. Poorer executive functioning in social drinkers has been associated with decreased awareness of abuse consequences.47 If executive functions do not mature fully until early adulthood, then this lack of maturity is likely to alter the effectiveness of prevention programs.
Adolescent Cognitive Development and Effectiveness of Prevention Programs
Alcohol and other drug abuse prevention efforts are typically aimed at adolescents. Multiple types of programs, from education-based school programs48 to risk or skill remediation programs49 and even community-wide programs,50 have been developed. Despite 3 decades of research, these prevention efforts still show mixed effectiveness.51 Those that seem most promising operate at multiple levels of intervention.50 One way to increase effectiveness might be to tailor these approaches by using information on cognitive changes in late childhood and adolescence.
Because the initiation (or refusal) of use of alcohol and other drugs involves a decision, prevention programs target various components of the decision-making process, such as the quality of information available for consideration,48 consideration of consequences,52 identification of social pressures for use,53 generation of behavior alternatives,52 and problem-solving skills development.54 The prevention literature has not benefited from the identification of specific cognitive functions that support high-level processes such as decision-making or the wealth of research that has accumulated from the study of these and other executive functions. Executive functions consist of multiple components that enable consideration of goals, social contexts, and rewards, as well as regulation of response initiation and inhibition. These functions, described in Table 2, are pivotal to the 2 primary cognitive tasks of adolescence, namely, to develop one's capacity to integrate information from diverse sources relevant to a goal and to develop personal rule sets that efficiently guide behavior toward future goals. Strategies that work to facilitate adolescents' self-change behaviors may be particularly promising in this regard.55
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Relationships with siblings have received less research attention than those with parents, particularly in later adolescence. However, older siblings' alcohol and drug use predicts early adolescents' subsequent substance use, beyond parental predictors.59 Behavioral genetic studies also suggest that youths' perceptions of their older siblings' alcohol use predict younger siblings' alcohol involvement. Furthermore, unlike many other sibling and parental correlations, whose interpretation is confounded by the possibility of passive genotype-environment correlational processes, sibling similarities in alcohol use seem to involve true environmental effects.60 Mechanisms through which siblings influence substance use may include modeling, access to alcohol, and direct social influence.
Peer Relationships
Normative age-related changes in the importance of peer relationships and culture heighten exposure to cultural norms and influences and in many cases encourage experimentation with and heavy use of alcohol.61 Subjectively positive aspects of social life center around drinking contexts, and sociability expressed while drinking can serve as a marker of successful peer relationships and bonding. Media and peer culture heighten exposure to norms, myths, and influences that promote an age-graded period of experimentation. Cultural and peer influences are not, however, monolithic in their power or direction of influence. Individuals tend to seek out and to be selected by peers who have similar goals, values, and behaviors.
Peer influences on risk for alcohol use and abuse can take 3 alternative forms during this age period.61 First, peer influences may be relatively direct, through modeling processes or the encouragement of alcohol use. Direct peer influences increase in salience during periods of change and adaptation to new environments. Second, peer influences may be self-sustaining, because affiliation with like-minded friends can encourage behavioral continuity and resistance to change processes. Finally, adolescents significantly overestimate the prevalence of their peers' drinking, which indirectly encourages heavy drinking. Peer influences can be amplified by the media and popular culture, which generally depict unhealthy and risky behaviors, such as drinking, physical aggression, interpersonal conflict, and unprotected sex, as both glamorous and risk-free.62
Romantic Relationships and Sexuality
Adolescence brings dramatic changes in sexual feelings, sexual identity, and experimentation with romantic relationships and sexual behaviors. Brooks-Gunn and Paikoff63 identified 4 developmental challenges in the domain of sexuality, namely, becoming comfortable with one's maturing body, accepting feelings of sexual arousal, understanding that sexual behaviors should be mutually voluntary, and practicing safe sex. These challenges are personal and relational, involve complex feelings and shared behaviors, and remain important developmental tasks well beyond adolescence. Romantic relationships are central to late adolescent and young adult development. These new relational expectations and challenges have the potential to influence adolescent development both positively and negatively. Romantic relationships progress from heterosexual group interactions to group dating and ultimately to dyadic romantic relationships in which emotional reliance shifts from friendships (eg, best friends) to romantic partners.64 These interactions are strongly tied to friendships and peer relationships. The role of alcohol in the divergent trajectories of relationship involvement during adolescence has not been fully articulated.
At 18 years of age, 70% of adolescents have engaged in sexual intercourse.65 Most, however, have sex infrequently and have done so with only 1 partner. Therefore, many in this age range have relatively little sexual experience, confidence, or skills.63 Coupled with a developmentally normative intense interest in finding a romantic partner, limited sexual experience can lead to unplanned, unreciprocated, or nonconsensual sexual situations. Of note, alcohol involvement is associated with a variety of early sexual activities. Adolescent girls with older boyfriends seem to be a particularly vulnerable population. Girls with boyfriends >2 years older than they are engage in more of all forms of sexual intimacy and are more likely to have sex under the influence of alcohol and to experience sexual coercion.66 Alcohol use may be paired with early sexual experiences in several ways. Desire to meet new partners may lead to social contexts where alcohol is served, and positive expectancies about the social and sexual enhancement properties of alcohol may increase motivations to drink. Alcohol consumption in turn can make sexual behaviors in general and unsafe behaviors in particular more likely, by reducing inhibitions, giving courage, and providing an "excuse" for getting wild.
Emotional Changes and Mental Health Problems
Negative affect and emotional lability increase with the onset of and progression through puberty. These changes not only reflect neurohormonal changes and brain maturation patterns but also coincide with increases in environmental stress during this period. Along with school transitions (eg, progression into high school and college), exposure to new social situations, transition to first work environments, elevations in relational aggression, and heightened academic performance expectations contribute to emotional distress experienced during this period. Several types of mental health problems also increase during this age period, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and delinquent behaviors.
Disruptive disorders such as conduct disorder and attention-deficit disorder, as well as internalizing disorders of depression and anxiety, increase risk for alcohol involvement and related problems. Conversely, intensive and protracted alcohol use has been shown to provoke deviant behaviors as well as depression and anxiety.67,68 In community studies of adolescents, youths with an AUD or substance use disorder have 3 times the rates of cooccurring axis I mental health disorders, compared with youths without alcohol or drug disorders.69 Mood disorders and disruptive disorders are more prevalent among youths with alcohol/drug disorders than are anxiety disorders, and rates of cooccurring disorders are substantially higher in clinical populations.68 Youths treated for AUDs who also have an axis I mental health disorder have been shown to experience relapse more quickly and after exacerbations in symptoms of the mental health disorder.70
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TOPABSTRACTNORMATIVE PATTERNS OF...NORMATIVE PATTERNS OF ALCOHOL...RISK AND PROTECTIVE PROCESSESCONSEQUENCES OF ADOLESCENT...IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF...CONCLUSIONSREFERENCES |
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5 drinks in a row (sometimes called binge drinking) in the past 2 weeks, and 1.3% and 3.1%, respectively, reported daily alcohol use.71 Historically, the 2005 rates reflect a long-term (but not always progressive) decrease in use over the past few decades. Nonetheless, the 2005 rates are hardly comforting, with >2 of 10 of the nation's 10th-graders and almost 3 of 10 of the nation's 12th-graders reporting binge drinking in the past 2 weeks. Considerable attention has been given to the increase in alcohol use and problem drinking that occurs in the years immediately after high school, when widespread alcohol use gives way to pervasive use, culminating in the highest rates of use across the entire life span during the early twenties. With regard to alcohol use during the first 2 years after high school (modal ages: 19 and 20 years), lifetime prevalence (based on 2005 follow-up surveys from the Monitoring the Future study) was 81.8%, 30-day use prevalence was 59%, and binge drinking prevalence was 36.3%.72 Furthermore, it is notable that, although rates of alcohol use and binge drinking have declined for post–high school youths, the decreases have been relatively modest, compared with those seen for high school students, as mentioned above.61,72 This is especially true for college students, who have higher rates of alcohol use than their noncollege peers, although high school students who are college bound have lower rates of drinking than do high school students who do not proceed to college.61,71,72 In 2005, the rate of binge drinking for college students (1–4 years beyond high school) was 40.1%, whereas the rate for their noncollege peers was 35.1%.72
Across the years of high school and the transition to adulthood, alcohol use and problem drinking vary according to various sociodemographic characteristics. The prevalence rates of alcohol use are higher for boys than for girls, higher for white and Hispanic adolescents than for black adolescents, and higher for those living in the North and North Central US regions than for those living in the South and West regions. During early high school, alcohol use is typically negatively related to socioeconomic status (and parent education level); by the end of high school and during the transition to adulthood, this relationship decreases and actually reverses, corresponding to proportionally higher rates of college attendance among youths with higher socioeconomic status. During high school, alcohol use tends to be negatively related to population density (with higher rates in rural areas), but this relationship also reverses during early adulthood.71,72
Patterns and Trajectories of Drinking and Social Subtypes of Youth Drinkers
Overview
The normative nature of the increase in alcohol use between 16 and 20 years of age suggests that it may serve a developmental function, such as those involving autonomy, risk-taking, and social relationships.61,73 Indeed, it is unlikely to be a coincidence that alcohol use, problems with alcohol, and other risky behaviors all increase during late adolescence, at the same time that quests for autonomy and identity exploration increase and social relationships intensify. Similarly, the relationship between increased alcohol use/problems and the many transitions that follow high school, particularly those related to college entry, is likely to be attributable at least in part to the changes in social roles and contexts that occur in late adolescence.61 The notion of alcohol (and other drug) use being developmentally embedded during late adolescence and early adulthood leads to a consideration of both (1) the trajectories of alcohol use and problem drinking over time and (2) the relationship of alcohol use and problems to developmental tasks.
Trajectories of Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking Over Time
Although it is useful to consider the normative increases and decreases in alcohol use at the population level, it is essential from a developmental perspective to investigate how individuals and subgroups differ in their patterns of alcohol use over time by using longitudinal data. Multiwave prospective studies allow for the characterization of both individual and group trajectories of alcohol use in terms of characteristics such as overall level, rate of escalation, age at peak use, and rate of decline. Such studies generally have taken 1 of 2 forms, focusing on either the normative group trajectory (and considering individual deviations from the normative trajectory in terms of variations around the intercept and slope) or the existence of common trajectory groups (eg, chronically high use, escalating use, or low/no use).74 These 2 approaches, which are sometimes referred to as variable-centered and pattern-centered approaches, respectively, are not mutually exclusive, and techniques such as growth mixture modeling combine the 2.75 However, the 2 approaches tend to have different assumptions about the extent to which the normative trajectory usefully describes the important features of individual trajectories of alcohol use across time.
Several studies have examined the normative trajectory of alcohol use/problems during adolescence and early adulthood by using growth models representing the level (intercepts) and rate of change over time (slopes). In general, findings indicate that there are normative increases in alcohol use and heavy drinking from early adolescence through the early twenties, with marked individual differences in the rates of change.76 The advantages of this approach include the abilities to predict individual differences in intercepts and slopes (with time-invariant or time-varying covariates) and to correlate changes in alcohol use (eg, the slope for an individual trajectory) with changes in other behavioral and social constructs, to understand how alcohol use "travels together" with other variables.
The multiple-trajectory approach essentially groups people according to their similarity in how they change or do not change over time. Rather than assuming that everyone generally follows the same developmental trajectory, this approach aggregates individuals into multiple, relatively homogeneous groups according to their distinctive trajectories. The advantages of this approach include the abilities to draw meaningful distinctions among the groups in terms of antecedents and consequences and to consider the occurrence of similar trajectory groups across different outcomes.77 Maggs and Schulenberg74 summarized several studies that used this approach to examine alcohol use and problem drinking during late adolescence and early adulthood. Although the studies varied considerably in terms of ages, waves, measures, and analytic strategies, several common trajectory groups were found across the studies (Table 3). The most commonly observed trajectory subgroup included abstainers, light drinkers, or very rarely heavy drinkers across all time periods assessed. Depending on the specific definitions used in different studies for these levels of alcohol consumption, estimates of the proportion of young people in this low-risk group ranged from approximately one fifth78 to more than two thirds.39 Members of another common trajectory subgroup, that is, stable moderate drinkers, engage in some steady drinking but limited heavy drinking across adolescence and young adulthood. Across studies, estimates are that approximately one third of adolescents and emerging adults fall into this group.79 Together, these 2 broad categories, which include relatively low-risk drinkers, include a large proportion of all young people.
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"Fling" drinkers,80 who make up 10% to 12% of the adolescent and young adult population, take yet a different trajectory. They experience a period of developmentally limited, heavy drinking that peaks and then declines after late adolescence or the early adult years.80 A final subgroup, decreasers, seems to be more common in older adolescent and young adult samples80 than in younger samples. Decreasers begin heavy drinking at an early age and reduce their use significantly during or shortly after high school. Approximately 10% of adolescents and young adults fall into this subgroup. Of note, substantial fluctuations in youth drinking occur within the course of a single year81 and may be tied to personal change efforts81 or environmental factors.82
Relationships of Alcohol Use and Problems to Developmental Tasks
From a developmental perspective, it is essential to examine the meaning of substance use from the young person's perspective, specifically, to consider substance use in relation to the developmental tasks adolescents are expected to accomplish. Escalating alcohol use and patterns of long-term heavy use are likely to be associated with many negative antecedents and consequences, likely interfering with various developmental tasks. For example, alcohol use is often involved in first (and unwanted) sexual encounters and increases as youths initially transition into independent living. In addition to the many destructive aspects of alcohol (and other drug) use, there may be some constructive aspects in terms of developmental tasks, particularly with respect to identity exploration and bonding with peers.73,83 For example, as Maggs84 demonstrated, alcohol use during the transition to college may help to achieve valued social goals, such as making new friends, but may threaten safety and short- and long-term health and well-being. During late adolescence and early adulthood, alcohol use may function in part to accomplish particular developmental tasks, reflecting age-normative (although not necessarily optimal) behavior.
Summary of Patterns of Alcohol Involvement
During high school, alcohol use and problem drinking are widespread; after high school, rates of alcohol use and problems increase to lifetime peaks in the early twenties. Post–high school alcohol use varies, to some degree, as a function of social role and context, as illustrated by rapid increases in use and problems among college students. On the basis of multiwave longitudinal data, studies have considered individual- and group-level trajectories of alcohol use and problem drinking, illustrating both the population-level increase that occurs during late adolescence and early adulthood and the distinct trajectory courses that characterize different groups (eg, chronic heavy use, increasing use, and low-level use/abstinence). By examining individual- and group-level trajectories, studies can better address how changes in alcohol use relate to changes in other constructs, providing a stronger foundation for a developmental perspective on alcohol use. Numerous gaps exist in this line of research, indicating the need for more multiwave longitudinal research that includes a wide range of developmental biological and psychosocial phenomena. An important component of a developmental perspective is an emphasis on how alcohol use relates to developmental tasks. In many ways, the field has yet to address adequately the challenge of Baumrind and Moselle85 from 2 decades ago regarding the need to document fully the negative effects of alcohol and other drug use on developmental tasks. However, there has been some recognition that, in addition to the destructive aspects, there are potential constructive aspects (from the young person's perspective) of alcohol use. A more-comprehensive understanding of the destructive and constructive aspects of alcohol use in terms of developmental tasks during late adolescence and early adulthood is needed to advance etiologic research and prevention efforts.
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TOPABSTRACTNORMATIVE PATTERNS OF...NORMATIVE PATTERNS OF ALCOHOL...RISK AND PROTECTIVE PROCESSESCONSEQUENCES OF ADOLESCENT...IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF...CONCLUSIONSREFERENCES |
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The landmark research of Jessor73 showed that adolescent alcohol use and abuse usually does not occur in isolation but typically occurs with other adolescent problem behaviors, including tobacco and illicit drug use, early sexual behavior, antisocial behavior, and poor academic attachment and progress. There are differing perspectives on the mechanisms that underlie these correlations. One perspective, which is reflected in the so-called Gateway Model, posits that adolescent alcohol use increases the likelihood of other adolescent problem behaviors because exposure to alcohol alters the course of adolescent development.69 Alternatively, others have argued that the cooccurrence of adolescent problem behaviors arises because adolescent alcohol use is 1 manifestation of a more-generalized disposition to contravene social norms.86 In this case, adolescents use alcohol for the same reasons they use or abuse other substances or engage in antisocial behavior (eg, a relatively strong need for stimulation and social reinforcement, coupled with relatively low levels of self-regulation). Although distinct, these 2 perspectives are not necessarily incompatible. Adolescent alcohol use may both reflect an underlying disposition toward undercontrolled behavior and alter the course of adolescent behavior in a way that increases the likelihood of untoward outcomes.87 For example, McGue et al88 reported that early use of alcohol was associated with a range of preexisting markers of disinhibition, including ratings of hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention and event-related brain potential differences (reduced P3 amplitude), the latter being a well-known biological marker of alcoholism risk.89 Alternatively, Keyes et al90 found that early use of alcohol in adolescence was associated with subsequent increases in a range of contextual risks, including increased parent-adolescent conflict, reduced engagement in school, and increased exposure to deviant peer models.
Behavioral genetic research documents the existence of genetic influences on adolescent drinking behavior, several features of which are particularly noteworthy. First, the strength of genetic influences on drinking behavior seems to increase from middle adolescence to late adolescence.91 Second, in late adolescence and early adulthood, genetic influences on symptoms of problem drinking seem to overlap extensively with genetic influences on other indicators of disinhibited behavior.92 Although the latter research suggests that for some youths abusive drinking in late adolescence may be driven substantially by inherited differences in a general disposition toward undercontrolled behavior, it does not rule out the influence of alcohol-specific genetic effects (eg, genetic influences on alcohol sensitivity) or the impact of contextual factors. Indeed, there is mounting evidence that genetic influences on complex behavioral outcomes such as drinking behavior reflect a complex interplay between inherited and environmental factors,93 the implications of which for models of adolescent drinking are only beginning to be explored.91
The transition to college serves to illustrate the complex nature of contextual influences on drinking behavior in late adolescence. As discussed earlier, research has shown unambiguously that drinking, especially binge drinking, increases markedly during the transition from high school to college. However, differences in drinking behavior between college students and non–college students are not necessarily large,94 which suggests that there may be developmentally normative aspects to increases in problem drinking in late adolescence. Moreover, the influence of college on drinking behavior may be transient in most cases.95 However, we cannot conclude that the sharp increase in high-density drinking that occurs in late adolescence is without long-term consequences. Students attending college drank less in high school than did students not attending college. Therefore, the college environment is able to elicit high levels of problem drinking in a relatively low-risk population. Which individuals are most susceptible to these contextual influences in late adolescence and the long-term consequences of the sharp increase in binge drinking that occurs in late adolescence remain to be determined.
The timing of other life transitions in late adolescence is also associated with drinking behavior. Although normative at later life stages, the assumption of adult social roles in adolescence, which Bachman and Schulenberg96 termed "precocious development," is associated with increased risk of problem drinking and other social problems. For example, adolescents who work >20 hours/week,97 marry, or become a parent98 are all at increased risk of problem drinking, relative to adolescents whose course of social development is more normative. Although precocious transitions clearly disrupt the normal course of adolescent development, their effects on drinking behavior remain somewhat obscure. The association of early transitions with high levels of drinking may reflect preexisting dimensions of risk or the disruption of normal developmental processes. Research on early puberty may be informative in this regard. Adolescents, particularly girls, who undergo puberty early are at increased risk for early substance use.99 They are also at excess risk for the early expression of other antisocial behaviors, although differences in antisocial behaviors between early- and late-maturers decrease with age, as the late-maturers "catch up."100 It is possible that the principal effect of early puberty on drinking behavior is to advance the age at which drinking is initiated, and early puberty may have limited impact on long-term alcohol outcomes.
Gender differences in drinking behavior, which are minimal at earlier life stages, begin to emerge and to become consequential during late adolescence.101 Although adolescent girls are as likely to have tried alcohol as adolescent boys, they are less likely to be diagnosed as having an AUD and to engage in problematic or binge drinking. Gender differences in drinking behavior are associated with different profiles of risk. Adolescent girls, for example, are more likely than adolescent boys to be victims of abuse102 and to suffer from depression and anxiety,103 both of which are associated with elevated rates of drinking. Adolescent boys are more likely to suffer from externalizing disorders (eg, conduct disorder) and to score high on measures of impulsivity,15 which also are markers of risk. Although we know much about the existence and correlates of gender differences in adolescent drinking behavior, we know relatively little about the mechanisms that underlie those differences and consequently the reasons for the apparent convergence in male and female drinking behaviors over time.104
Resilience refers to positive developmental outcomes for individuals who face risk or adversity. Resilience among children has been studied extensively over the past 30 years. Patterns of resilient behavior provide important information for models of normal development and models of the development of problem behaviors and may also yield insights into effective preventive strategies. Given the pronounced maturational development across all domains of youth behavior that occurs in late adolescence, along with the substantial increases in alcohol-related risks, resilience is a useful perspective from which to evaluate the pathways of success for youths regarding alcohol problems (eg, abstinence or nonproblematic drinking or rapid resolution of hazardous drinking or abuse). Resilience has particular applicability to youths with genetic or environmental risks for alcohol dependence, many of whom are able to overcome their developmental liabilities.105 Biological, cognitive, social, and emotional characteristics of youths can contribute to their resiliency. In particular, certain integrative skills (such as self-organization and emotional regulation) that emerge during this time period promote resilience and may protect against trajectories of protracted heavy alcohol involvement.106
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CONSEQUENCES OF ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL USE AND ABUSE |
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As noted above, a number of developmental models have been proposed to explain the role of alcohol involvement and problems in youth development. For example, the theoretical analysis of the effects of alcohol and drug abuse by Baumrind and Moselle85 suggests that adolescent substance use could result in negative effects on the attainment of formal operational capacities, transitions in attitudes toward social convention, the normative transition from conventional to principled morality, normative increases in self-centeredness, enhancement of abilities to understand the perspective of others, increases in peer group significance and changes in social contexts, development of ego identity, and development of self-esteem. Also, Baumrind and Moselle85 proposed specific mechanisms regarding how alcohol and other substance involvement could affect development, by obscuring the context of work and the context of play, promoting a false consciousness of reality, reinforcing a sense of being special, enabling the adolescent to avoid realistic confrontations with the environment, consolidating the cultural relativism and negative identity characteristics in (early) adolescence, and masquerading as an emancipatory effort. In addition, affective and behavioral systems may be affected by an amotivational syndrome. These proposed mechanisms exemplify ways in which alcohol and other substance involvement may interfere with the development of basic competencies in intellectual functioning, moral development, personality development, schooling and vocational readiness, and development of interpersonal skills (both generally and in forming intimate relationships). Alcohol and other substance use may preempt normal development by providing shortcuts to achieving various roles without the underlying competencies or eliminating the need to develop competencies by maintaining a social context that is tolerant of functioning typical of earlier ages.
Effects of Alcohol Use on Adolescent Development
Typically, alcohol-related problems and consequences refer to a variety of negative life experiences that arise from drinking, such as social problems (eg, physical or verbal aggression or relationship difficulties), legal problems (eg, arrests for driving while intoxicated [DWI] or public inebriation), educational/vocational problems (eg, academic difficulties, termination from employment, or failure to achieve career goals), and medical problems (eg, unintentional injury, liver disease, or central nervous system disease). Although alcohol problems may be direct consequences of consumption, other factors associated with alcohol consumption may act independent of or interact with actual consumption to predict problems.107 Although some types of outcomes (eg, blackouts, alcohol-related arrests, or having people complain about one's drinking) are clearly alcohol-related, others are more ambiguous (eg, getting into fights, skipping classes because of one's drinking, or depression) and still others are related to associated behaviors (eg, concomitant drug use resulting in arrest for drug procurement). Youths may not attribute problems to alcohol even when they are a consequence of alcohol involvement (eg, conflicts with parents); therefore, assessment is a challenge. Youth drinking and adverse consequences may have 3 types of functional relationships, that is, (1) alcohol use produces the outcome, (2) the putative outcome leads to alcohol use, and (3) another behavior or factor leads to both alcohol use and the outcome.108 Furthermore, the effects may occur temporarily or be more protracted (ie, acute versus chronic), as illustrated in Table 4.
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A variety of studies have shown associations between adolescent alcohol involvement and a range of adverse consequences, including academic problems, social problems, hangovers, unplanned and risky sex, aggression and victimization, unintentional injuries (especially motor vehicle crashes), various physical and emotional problems, and suicidality.70 Strong evidence exists for adolescent alcohol involvement directly causing physical outcomes such as blackouts, unplanned sexual behavior, and motor vehicle crashes. Less clear is the casual contribution of alcohol involvement to the multiple behavioral, emotional, social, and academic problems that are correlated with teen drinking.
Alcohol and the Developing Adolescent Brain
A particularly important consequence of adolescent alcohol exposure concerns the neurologic effects of alcohol on the developing adolescent brain. As noted earlier, adolescence is now recognized as a time of rapid neuromaturation in many key brain regions involved in self-regulation, emotional tone and reactivity, and a broad range of higher-level cognitive functions. Moreover, we know from studies comparing adult alcoholic and nonalcoholic subjects109 and individuals exposed in utero to high doses of alcohol110 that alcohol is a potent neurotoxin. Adolescents may be especially vulnerable to perturbations in the course of neurodevelopment attributable to alcohol. Moreover, because those with a range of developmental psychopathological conditions (both internalizing and externalizing) are at highest risk for excessive alcohol involvement and the same individuals are most likely to have compromised developmental competencies and brain function before alcohol and other substance involvement, there may exist subpopulations of adolescents who not only are likely to become problematically involved in alcohol use but also are likely to experience more-severe long-term consequences because of earlier developmental compromise.
Reviews of research on neurocognitive effects of alcohol on adolescents and college students, as well as animal models of adolescence,6,70 concluded that adolescent alcohol use is associated with damage to the brain and neurocognitive deficits, with implications for learning and other cognitive abilities that may continue to affect the individual into adulthood. For example, adolescents with an AUD have deficits in memory retrieval and in visuospatial functioning.111 Research relating alcohol use to brain structure and functioning supports the conclusion that heavy alcohol use in adolescence can result in selective long-term cognitive impairments. Imaging studies of brain structure112 and longitudinal neurocognitive evaluations of clinical samples of adolescent drinkers111 suggested differences between heavily alcohol-involved adolescents and control subjects, with a variety of cognitive abilities deteriorating for late adolescents and young adults who persist in heavy drinking. How extensive adolescent drinking must be before brain damage is significant and protracted, the extent of variation in vulnerability to alcohol-related brain damage, the rate and pattern of neurocognitive recovery, and the extent to which structural and functional changes are attributable solely to alcohol are not yet clear. It is clear that determining the nature, extent, and persistence of alcohol-related brain injury in adolescence is a high priority for research, because of its potential far-reaching consequences across multiple domains of human functioning.
Because of the rigorous experimental control that is possible, animal research has the power to demonstrate and to characterize the neurotoxic properties of alcohol in the developing adolescent brain.113 Much of the existing relevant research, primarily with rodents, has focused on the structure and function of the hippocampus, showing it to be especially sensitive to both acute and chronic ethanol exposure during adolescence. Acute alcohol exposure at both high and low doses seems to inhibit memory formation, and adolescent rats seem to be unusually sensitive to these cognitive ability-impairing effects.114 Chronic ethanol exposure has also been shown consistently to result in long-term cognitive impairments; again, adolescent rats seem to be especially sensitive to these effects.115 Studies with rats also suggested that repeated periods of heavy drinking followed by withdrawal may be particularly neurotoxic, especially in adolescence.116 For example, chronic intermittent ethanol exposure is the rat analog of human binge drinking. Chronic intermittent ethanol exposure was associated with reduced neurogenesis in the rat hippocampus117 and long-term alteration of serotonergic function,118 likely resulting in permanently altered forebrain functioning. Therefore, adolescent vulnerability to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol may be exacerbated by the typical pattern of adolescent drinking, which often involves intermittent bouts of heavy drinking (ie, periodic binge drinking).116,119 Specifically, chronic intermittent ethanol exposure was associated with damage to the frontal association cortex and other frontal regions in adolescent but not adult rats.116
In contrast to their heightened sensitivity to the cognitive ability-impairing effects of alcohol, adolescents seem to show reduced sensitivity to other effects of alcohol. Adolescent rats are less sensitive to the motor function-impairing effects of ethanol120; they also are less sensitive to the sedating effects of alcohol.121 This reduced sensitivity may be further decreased by typical patterns of adolescent drinking; chronic intermittent ethanol exposure has been associated with both increased tolerance to ethanol's impairing effects in a spatial learning task122 and altered sensitivity to ethanol's aversive effects.123 Chronic intermittent ethanol exposure in adolescence also has been linked to reduced sensitivity to the motor function-impairing effects of alcohol in adulthood.124 Moreover, in humans, reduced sensitivity to the motor function-impairing and aversive effects of alcohol has been shown to be a potent risk factor for the development of alcoholism.125 Consequently, adolescent drinking may be especially risky because (1) some brain regions, such as the hippocampus and the frontal cortical regions, may be especially vulnerable during adolescence to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol, (2) adolescent exposure may lead to a long-term reduction in sensitivity to the cues that typically moderate alcohol consumption (ie, sedation and locomotor impairment), and (3) both of these effects are amplified by the pattern of drinking that typifies youth.
Adolescent Alcohol Involvement and Later Alcohol and Other Substance Involvement
An increasing number of studies have tracked the longer-term outcomes of adolescents who drink during later adolescence (ie, 16–20 years of age) to later time points in their third decade of life. Across a diverse range of samples and measures of alcohol involvement, there is clear evidence that drinking patterns during late adolescence are associated with alcohol-related outcomes during later life stages. Of particular interest are studies that examined developmental patterns of drinking and later diagnoses of AUDs.79,126,127 Not surprisingly, alcohol use during late adolescence is associated with AUDs during the third decade of life, with higher probabilities of being diagnosed being associated with higher intensity of use. For example, Wells et al127 categorized drinking patterns at age 16 and found that the maximal number of drinks consumed on a single occasion in the recent past was a key indicator of more-severe drinking patterns, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Across a number of studies, the relationship between alcohol involvement in later adolescence and alcohol involvement in early adulthood seems to be robust even when a host of competing factors are considered.
A number of studies have attempted to relate various aspects of middle or late adolescent drinking behavior to later outcomes in other developmentally important domains. A study by Wells et al127 of a birth cohort in New Zealand is particularly instructive. In their analyses, those authors examined the relationship between the extent of alcohol involvement at 16 years of age and a broad range of outcomes at 21 and 25 years of age, including other (nonalcohol) substance dependence, major depression, anxiety disorders, suicidality, educational and vocational outcomes, sexual relationships, and criminal offending. Although there were many strong associations between drinking patterns at 16 years of age and these outcomes, very few could be attributed exclusively to early alcohol use. When demographic and background variables were controlled, alcohol involvement at 16 years of age predicted independently noncannabis drug dependence at 25 years of age, number of sexual partners, and property and violent offenses. Alcohol might have been an important, nonunique, contributing factor to other developmentally important outcomes. Clearly, adolescent alcohol involvement is embedded in layers of associated risk factors at the individual, intrafamilial, and extrafamial environmental levels. Research is needed to examine the unique and combined effects of alcohol and other factors on important developmental outcomes, which represents a major challenge.
Despite this caution, longitudinal studies have clarified the long-term correlates of late adolescent drinking and demonstrated significant effects of adolescent alcohol involvement on adult outcomes. Several studies have shown that alcohol involvement is associated with adult drug dependence,126–128 antisocial behavior,127,128 and depression126,127; however, the latter association has been inconsistent.128 Adult antisocial behavior is associated with being drunk by 18 years of age, even in the absence of childhood conduct problems.
Unfortunately, there has been considerably less study of the association between adolescent alcohol involvement and other domains of adult functioning. Clearly, adolescent alcohol involvement is associated with educational problems in both secondary and higher education,127,128 although it is not clear whether this is uniquely attributable to alcohol. The data regarding adult outcomes associated with productive involvement in society and parental role functioning are limited but suggest possible areas of developmental impairment.128
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Few forms of alcohol treatment for adolescents have clearly demonstrated efficacy. Even with treatment, the high relapse rates common among alcohol-dependent adults are paralleled among adolescents.131 School-based programs often lack ongoing supports needed for youths to sustain abstinence.132 Given the remarkable variety of deviant externalizing and internalizing behaviors adolescents display when entering treatment for alcohol and/or drug problems, it is not surprising that the tertiary interventions considered most promising for alcohol-abusing adolescents require substantial resources in multiple contexts to provoke and to sustain necessary lifestyle changes.133 Clearly, interventions targeted at youths in earlier stages of the development of alcohol problems hold much promise for reaching a larger population, providing cost savings, and avoiding considerable personal and family hardship.
Developmentally Related Resolution of Drinking Problems
As with adults, many youths who develop and resolve alcohol problems never receive formal treatment.81 Studies examining the contexts and mechanisms of change or recovery from alcohol problems among youths are needed. Studies indicate that 15% to 20% of drinkers in high school make purposeful attempts to decrease or to stop their drinking and brief, developmentally tailored interventions are successful in facilitating quitting efforts.81
Even youths who receive specific treatment for alcohol and drug abuse seem to experience improvement or to maintain behavioral changes through means other than those recommended by treatment programs, reflecting developmental context and process shifts. For example, after treatment only one half of adolescent alcohol and drug abusers comply with the primary behavioral prescription of treatment programs, namely, attending aftercare or 12-step program meetings.129 Approximately one third of nonattendees used other methods to abstain consistently or to have minimal alcohol involvement during the first year after treatment.129
Identification of strategies that adolescents use in their natural environments to resolve their own alcohol problems is needed. Such information could facilitate our understanding of the process of youth change at this stage of development, potentially enhance the effectiveness of all intervention efforts, and allow treatment to reach adolescents who do not currently seek treatment.134
Adult studies examining the self-change process for alcohol problems outside treatment h
