Drinking in Youth Ages 13-21 Attending and Not Attending College

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Author(s): Reifman, A., Ro, H-S., Barnes, G. M., & Feng, D.

Citation: Reifman, A., Ro, H-S., Barnes, G. M., & Feng, D. (2010). Drinking in Youth Ages 13-21 Attending and Not Attending College. Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 22(1), 67-86.

 

Abstract

This study used a representative metropolitan sample to make longitudinal comparisons of college-bound and non-college-bound youth on incidents and predictors of heavy drinking. Respondents in the six-wave study were ages 13 - 16 at wave 1 and 18 - 21 at wave 6 (n's ranged from roughly 425-500 for different analyses). College/non-college comparisons were conducted over the transition from 12th grade to the following year and over the full longitudinal span (for the latter, a cohort-sequential design simulated a nine-year stretch from ages 13 - 21). College-bound respondents exhibited a sharper rise in heavy drinking from 12th grade to the first year of college than did the non-college respondents from 12th grade to the next year. Long-term trajectories were similar in the two groups. Statistical interaction tests revealed that the combination of having been intoxicated at an early age and attendance at college put individuals at higher than usual risk for heavy drinking during the first college year.

 

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