Objectives. We examined the prevalence of substance use among American adults aged 35 years, and we considered adulthood predictors and the impact of adolescent substance use. Methods. National panel data were drawn from the Monitoring the Future study. Logistic regressions were conducted to assess the impact of demographics, life experiences, and adolescent substance use on smoking, heavy drinking, prescription drug misuse, marijuana use, and cocaine use at 35 years of age. Results. Factors related to increased likelihood of substance use include high school use, unemployment, and noncustodial parenthood. Lower use was associated with being female, a college graduate, a professional, married, or a custodial parent. Conclusions. Among those aged 35 years, substance use was still rather prevalent and was a function of adulthood roles, experiences, and previous use.

The purposes of this study were to: a) identify trajectory groups of frequent marijuana use during emerging adulthood, b) distinguish among trajectory groups according to demographic and lifestyle characteristics, and c) examine how the trajectory groups relate to behavioral, attitudinal, and socialemotional correlates over time. National panel data from the Monitoring the Future study were used: 18 cohorts of high school seniors (classes of 1977-94) were followed biennially through age 24. Frequent marijuana use was defined as 3+ occasions of use in past month and/or 20 to 40+ occasions in past year. Based on four waves of complete longitudinal data (N=19,952), six frequent marijuana use trajectory groups were identified: chronic, decreased, increased, fling, rare, and abstain. Categorical analyses revealed trajectory group differences in demographic and lifestyle characteristics at senior year and age 24. The trajectory groups varied significantly in longitudinal patterns of other substance use, problem behaviors, and well-being. Keywords Marijuana Use; Transition to Adulthood; Developmental Trajectories; Longitudinal ResearchThe transition from adolescence to adulthood is one of the most critical of normative life transitions because it typically involves pervasive and often simultaneous personal, contextual, and social role changes. During this transition, diversity in life paths increases (Schulenberg, O'Malley, Bachman and Johnston, 2005;Shanahan, 2000), and variability in the timing and content of developmental milestones greatly expands (Cohen, Kasen, Chen, Hartmark, and Gordon, 2003;Elder, 1998). For many, flexibility and self-direction in day-to-day life increases, and geographic mobility is greater in this period than in any other period of life (Arnett, 2000;Shanahan, 2000). In the past few decades, this transition period has lengthened considerably and has become less standardized in terms of normative sequences of adulthood markers relating to work and marriage. These changes led Arnett (2000) to argue that this emerging adulthood period is more than simply a staging ground for adulthood and that it should be viewed as unique and important in its own right. Amidst all this inter-individual variability and the many personal and social role changes, substance use tends to increase, peak, and then subside, a concordance that is not coincidental (Bachman et al., 1997(Bachman et al., , 2002Schulenberg, Maggs, and O'Malley, 2003 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptIn the present study, we are concerned with the course and correlates of marijuana use during the transition to adulthood. Using national panel data spanning this transition, we take a patterncentered approach to identify and describe common trajectories of marijuana use and to consider static and time-varying correlates of the trajectories. Trajectories of Marijuana and Other Substance Use During Adolescence and Early AdulthoodBased on epidemiological evidence (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, and Schu...

Aims To examine age-18 risk factors for alcohol use and heavy drinking during early (ages 22 and 26) and middle (age 35) adulthood, and for symptoms of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in middle adulthood. Design Nationally representative samples of US adolescents in their senior year of secondary school (age 18) were followed into middle adulthood. Structural equation models estimated the associations between age-18 characteristics and current drinking and heavy drinking at ages 22, 26 and 35 and symptoms of AUDs at age 35. Participants The sample consisted of 21 137 respondents from 11 senior year cohorts from the Monitoring the Future study. Findings Many predictor variables had stable associations with alcohol use over time, although their ability to explain variance in alcohol use declined with increasing time lags. Being white predicted alcohol use, but not symptoms of AUDs. Parental drinking, risk taking and use of cigarettes and marijuana predicted heavy drinking to age 35. Planning to attend college predicted more heavy drinking at age 22 and less frequent heavy drinking by mid-life. High school theft and property damage predicted later AUD symptoms. Most associations were invariant across gender, with variations typically taking the form of stronger associations between predictors and alcohol use for men. Invariance in findings across cohorts indicates that results reflect general developmental trends rather than specific historically bounded ones. Conclusions Many adolescent individual and contextual characteristics remain important predictors of adult alcohol use and abuse, and their predictive impact varies as a function of age and type of alcohol outcome. These associations are largely equivalent across gender and cohort, thus reflecting robust developmental linkages.

No abstract