Adoloscents and Binge Drinking

Binge Drinking Patterns from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood in a High-Risk Sample: Predictors and Substance Abuse Outcomes

This study describes binge-drinking starting with adolescents to emerging young adults in 238 children of alcoholics and 208 controls. Mixture modeling identified three groups: early-heavy (early onset, high frequency), late moderate (later onset, moderate frequency), and infrequent (early onset, low frequency). Nonbingers were defined a priori. The early-heavy group was characterized by parental alcoholism and peer drinking, drug use, and (for boys) high levels of externalizing behavior.  The infrequent group was elevated in parent alcoholism, whereas the nonbinger and late-moderate groups showed the most favorable adolescent psychosocial variables. All 3 drinking trajectory groups raised risk for later substance abuse or dependence compared with the nonbingers, with the early-heavy group at highest risk for adolescent binge drinking and substance abuse.

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