Patrick M. O'Malley

Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use in Young Adulthood : The Impacts of New Freedoms and New Responsibilities

Contents: Preface. Introduction and Overview. Reviewing the Influence of Social Roles on Drug Use During the Transition to Young Adulthood. Examining Roles and Experiences During the Post-High School Years--Sample Characteristics and Analysis Strategy. Changes in Cigarette Use. Changes in Alcohol Use. Changes in Marijuana Use. Changes in Cocaine Use. Summary, Conclusions, and Implications.

Reliability and Consistency in Self-Reports of Drug Use

The reliability and stability of self-reports of licit and illicit drug use are estimated using longitudinal data, and found to be rather high. An apparent inconsistency in reporting (less use over a 12-month period than would be expected based on use reported over a 30-day period) is examined (1) for association with personal characteristics and (2) for individual consistency over time. Neither individual consistency nor significant associations are found, although there appears to be a tendency for discrepant reporting of marijuana and alcohol use to be correlated within time. The data used are from the Monitoring the Future project, an ongoing nationwide study of high school seniors, with follow-up surveys after graduation.

Self-esteem in young men: a longitudinal analysis of the impact of educational and occupational attainment.

This paper analyzes relationships among self-esteem, educational attainment, and occupational status. Data from a nationwide longitudinal study of more than 1600 young men show a substantial increase in self-esteem between 19TT (when respondents were beginning tenth grade) and 1974. Reliability and construct validity data for the self-esteem measure are reported. As expected, both educational attainment and occupational status are correlated with self-esteem. Contrary to expectations, educational attainment as of 1974 is more strongly correlated with tenth grade self-esteem than with 1974 self-esteem. A path analysis led to these conclusions: (a) Self-esteem during high school has little or no direct causal impact on later educational and occupational attainment; self-esteem and attainment are correlated primarily because of shared prior causes including family background, ability, and scholastic performance. (b) Occupational status has a direct positive impact on self-esteem. (c) Post high school educational attainment has no direct impact on self-esteem and only a trivial indirect impact via occupational status. Additional findings indicate that factors associated with educational success become less central to the self-evaluations of young men during late high school and the years thereafter.

How Academic Achievement, Attitudes, and Behaviors Relate to the Course of Substance Use During Adolescence: A 6-Year, Multiwave National Longitudinal Study

Self-report data regarding alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use were collected biennially from ages 14 to 20 in a nationally representative panel sample of adolescents (N=1,897) from the Monitoring the Future study. Growth curve analyses were performed using hierarchical linear modeling to consider psychosocial background, motivation and school attitudes, and parental and peer influences at age 14 as predictors of concurrent substance use and change in substance use. Results indicated that school misbehavior and peer encouragement of misbehavior were positively associated with substance use at age 14 and with increased use over time; school bonding, school interest, school effort, academic achievement, and parental help with school were negatively associated. The protective effects of positive school attitudes and perceptions of high status connected to academics were stronger for low-achieving compared with high-achieving youth. Implications for a developmental perspective on substance use etiology and prevention are discussed.

Substance Use Among Adults 35 Years of Age: Prevalence, Adulthood Predictors, and Impact of Adolescent Substance Use

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.

Smoking, drinking, and drug use among American high school students: correlates and trends, 1975-1979.

This paper uses findings from five nationally representative surveys of high school seniors from 1975 through 1979 to examine the correlates of licit and illicit drug use, and to consider whether recent changes in youthful drug use are linked to any changes in the correlates. Males still exceed females in use of alcohol and marijuana, but no longer in cigarette smoking. Black seniors now report less drug use than Whites. Other dimensions of family background, region, and urbanicity show only modest associations with drug use. Above average drug use occurs among those less successful in adaptation to the educational environment, as indicated by truancy and low grades; those who spend many evenings out for recreation; and those with heavy time commitments to a job and/or relatively high incomes. Drug use is below average among seniors with strong religious commitments and conservative political views. From 1975 through 1979, among seniors cigarette use peaked and subsequently declined, marijuana use rose and then leveled off, and the (still infrequent) use of cocaine rose rapidly. However, these shifts in drug use were not accompanied by substantial shifts in the above correlates of use. The findings thus suggest that the kinds of young people most at risk remain much the same, while the types and amounts of substances they use shift somewhat from year to year.

Explaining recent increases in students' marijuana use: impacts of perceived risks and disapproval, 1976 through 1996.

OBJECTIVES Marijuana use among high school seniors increased during most of the 1970s, decreased throughout the 1980s, and has been increasing again during the 1990s. Earlier analyses of the classes of 1976 through 1986 attributed the historic trends during that period to specific changes in views about marijuana. This study examined whether recent increases in marijuana use among seniors and among students in earlier grades reflect similar processes. METHODS Multivariate regression analyses were conducted on data from large annual nationwide surveys of high school seniors from 1976 through 1996 (approximate n = 61,000) and 8th and 10th graders from 1991 through 1996 (ns = 87,911 and 82,475, respectively). RESULTS Individual lifestyle factors (grades, truancy, religious commitment, evenings out for recreation) correlated substantially with marijuana use but did not explain the historic changes in marijuana use. Rather, decreases in perceived risk of harmfulness and in disapproval can account for the recent increases in all 3 grades and for earlier decreases among seniors. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that perceived risks and disapproval are important determinants of marijuana use. Accordingly, prevention efforts should include realistic information about risks and consequences of marijuana use.

Taking hold of some kind of life: how developmental tasks relate to trajectories of well-being during the transition to adulthood.

The purpose of this study was to examine how successes and difficulties with various developmental tasks of early adulthood relate to the course of well-being. Three waves of national panel data spanning ages 18-26 were drawn from the Monitoring the Future study (N = 3518). Based on self-reports, respondents were assigned scores (succeeding, maintaining, or stalling) to reflect progress in seven domains of developmental tasks: education, work, financial autonomy, romantic involvement, peer involvement, substance abuse avoidance, and citizenship. We identified trajectory groups of well-being (based on self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social support) that reflect diverging trajectories during the transition: steady-high versus high-decreasing, and low-increasing versus steady-low. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict membership in the diverging well-being trajectory groups as a function of developmental task domain scores. Maintaining or gaining a salutary trajectory of well-being across the transition was found to be a function of more success and less stalling across the developmental tasks, specifically in the work, romantic involvement, and citizenship domains. Compensatory effects (e.g., succeeding in education compensated for not succeeding in work) and threshold effects (e.g., succeeding in both achievement and affiliation domains was necessary for a salutary trajectory) were also found.

Adolescent risk factors for binge drinking during the transition to young adulthood: Variable- and pattern-centered approaches to change.

This longitudinal study examined adolescent personality and social context predictors of changes in binge drinking during the transition to young adulthood. Variable- and pattern-centered approaches were used, with the latter focusing on different trajectories of binge drinking. Data came from the national Monitoring the Future project, including 6,852 youths from the 1976-1987 senior year cohorts who were surveyed at biennial intervals between ages 18 and 24. Being male, possessing low self-efficacy, and drinking primarily to get drunk were found to be unconditional adolescent risk factors for increased binge drinking over time. In contrast, other adolescent risk factors (e.g., low conventionality) were found to be conditional on initial level of binge drinking. Discussion focuses on the a priori prediction of difficulties during developmental transitions and the benefits of combining variable- and pattern-centered approaches to change.

High school educational success and subsequent substance use: a panel analysis following adolescents into young adulthood

In this investigation, two indicators of high school educational success (grade point average and college plans) were examined to determine their influence on cigarette, alcohol, and illicit drug use during the transition to young adulthood. Panel data were obtained from the 1978-81 Monitoring the Future nationally representative samples of high school seniors. The sample for this analysis included 3,399 White respondents (weighted cases) followed three to four years post-high school. Structural equation models that included background and mediating characteristics were developed and tested using LISREL VII. Consistent with a selection hypothesis, high school GPA had a negative indirect effect on post-high school substance use that operated largely via senior-year substance use. College plans during high school had a similar negative effect on post-high school cigarette use, but consistent with a differential-socialization hypothesis, they had a positive indirect effect on post-high school alcohol use that operated primarily via student and marital status during young adulthood. College plans had no impact on post-high school illicit drug use.