Updated October 21, 2014.
Although college drinking has received most of the media attention, at-risk alcohol use is not unique to young people in college, and not necessarily highest among college-educated young adults, research shows.
Hazardous drinking by young adults goes far beyond the college campus, according to a study by the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
"Alcohol use can begin as early as childhood, but typically begins during the teen years, and increases steadily from adolescence into young adulthood, where it reaches its highest lifetime level," said C.
Raymond Bingham, a research associate professor in the division of social and behavioral analysis, Transportation Research Institute, and in the department of psychiatry, School of Medicine, at the University of Michigan.
"Although college is typically known for frequent partying and alcohol consumption, individuals who do not attend college also on average experience their highest lifetime levels of alcohol consumption when they are young adults," said Bingham, also the first author of the study. "Contributing factors likely include increased numbers of peers who have legal access to alcohol, reaching age 21 and being able to legally purchase alcohol for one's self, increased autonomy and individuation from parents, a process of exploration and experimentation that is typical of late adolescent and early young adult psychosocial development, and the lack of adult roles and responsibilities – such as marriage and parenting – that might moderate alcohol use."
Bingham said in a news release that it would be incorrect to assume that non-college-attending young adults are at a lower alcohol-related risk than college undergraduates.
Bingham and his associates studied 987 young people from the fifth or sixth grade to age 24. They were surveyed initially, in the 12th grade and again by telephone at age 24. They were divided into three groups: high school or less, post-secondary education without a four-year college degree, and completed four-year college degree or more.
Here are the four key findings of the study:
"Men and women who completed college showed the greatest increases in the frequency of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking from 12th grade to young adulthood," said Bingham. "This increase was especially remarkable for men who completed college and went from having the lowest frequencies of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking among men in 12th grade to having the highest rates of all groups of men and women in young adulthood. College-completing women increased their frequencies of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking more than other women, but rather than surpassing the other groups, by age 24 college-completing women had merely caught up with their same-sex peers who had completed less formal education."
"In essence," said Bingham, "men and women who did not complete more than a high-school education had high alcohol-related risk, as measured by drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking while in the 12th grade, and remained at the same level into young adulthood, while levels for the other groups increased."
"Our research helps to emphasize that all young adults are generally at high alcohol-related risk, and this risk highlights the need for research, program development, and interventions to address the needs of non-college, as well as college-completing, young adults," said Bingham.
Source: Results of Bingham's study were published in the December 2005 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
Although college drinking has received most of the media attention, at-risk alcohol use is not unique to young people in college, and not necessarily highest among college-educated young adults, research shows.
Hazardous drinking by young adults goes far beyond the college campus, according to a study by the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
"Alcohol use can begin as early as childhood, but typically begins during the teen years, and increases steadily from adolescence into young adulthood, where it reaches its highest lifetime level," said C.
Raymond Bingham, a research associate professor in the division of social and behavioral analysis, Transportation Research Institute, and in the department of psychiatry, School of Medicine, at the University of Michigan.
"Although college is typically known for frequent partying and alcohol consumption, individuals who do not attend college also on average experience their highest lifetime levels of alcohol consumption when they are young adults," said Bingham, also the first author of the study. "Contributing factors likely include increased numbers of peers who have legal access to alcohol, reaching age 21 and being able to legally purchase alcohol for one's self, increased autonomy and individuation from parents, a process of exploration and experimentation that is typical of late adolescent and early young adult psychosocial development, and the lack of adult roles and responsibilities – such as marriage and parenting – that might moderate alcohol use."
Bingham said in a news release that it would be incorrect to assume that non-college-attending young adults are at a lower alcohol-related risk than college undergraduates.
Bingham and his associates studied 987 young people from the fifth or sixth grade to age 24. They were surveyed initially, in the 12th grade and again by telephone at age 24. They were divided into three groups: high school or less, post-secondary education without a four-year college degree, and completed four-year college degree or more.
Here are the four key findings of the study:
- Alcohol-related risk is not only a concern in populations of college students.
- Men who completed college experienced the greatest increase in at-risk drinking from grade 12 to young adulthood; however, their at-risk alcohol use at age 24 did not differ markedly from the young men in the other education groups.
- Men and women who did not complete any formal education beyond high school had the highest levels of alcohol consumption, drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking in 12th grade, which continued into young adulthood.
- From 12th grade to young adulthood, all groups of men and women showed a typical increase in their average alcohol consumption, with men increasing more than women.
Frequency and Drunkenness
"Non-college attending/graduating young adults experience levels of risk that equal those of their college-graduating age mates," said Bingham."Men and women who completed college showed the greatest increases in the frequency of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking from 12th grade to young adulthood," said Bingham. "This increase was especially remarkable for men who completed college and went from having the lowest frequencies of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking among men in 12th grade to having the highest rates of all groups of men and women in young adulthood. College-completing women increased their frequencies of drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking more than other women, but rather than surpassing the other groups, by age 24 college-completing women had merely caught up with their same-sex peers who had completed less formal education."
"In essence," said Bingham, "men and women who did not complete more than a high-school education had high alcohol-related risk, as measured by drunkenness and heavy episodic drinking while in the 12th grade, and remained at the same level into young adulthood, while levels for the other groups increased."
All Young Adults At Risk
"Men had consistently higher levels of all alcohol risk measures than women," said Bingham. "Men also showed greater increases in alcohol consumption than women. These findings are common in the literature, and are not unique to this study.""Our research helps to emphasize that all young adults are generally at high alcohol-related risk, and this risk highlights the need for research, program development, and interventions to address the needs of non-college, as well as college-completing, young adults," said Bingham.
Source: Results of Bingham's study were published in the December 2005 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.