Poster #102 - Historical Variation in the Impact of Big5 Transitions on Young Adult Substance use: Gender and Age as Moderators

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Health, Growth, Injury

Integrative Statement

Research clearly indicates that not only does transitioning in and out of each of the “Big5” social roles (marriage, college, residential independence, work, and parenthood) impact young adult substance use but also that the timing and frequency of Big5 transitions have varied historically. However, it is unclear whether the impacts of Big5 transitions on substance use have varied historically and, if so, whether historical variation in their impacts depends upon gender as well as age at time of transition (e.g., impact of transitioning into marriage at age 20 may vary historically while the impact of transitioning into marriage at age 28 may not). Because adolescence and young adulthood are critical junctures of the life-course for the development of substance use problems, understanding how the substance use impacts of the Big5 transitions have varied historically and for which gender and at what specific ages this historical variation is the most pronounced is critically important. Consequently, we examine across ages 18-30 whether the substance use impacts of Big5 transitions have varied historically and whether that historical variation depends upon gender and age at time of transition.

National data are from Monitoring the Future and include 64,833 high-school seniors surveyed across 1976-2004, and then surveyed biennially through age 30. Each of the Big5 social roles and substance use indicators (binge drinking, marijuana use) were measured at each wave. We created separate data sets for each Big5 transition (e.g., one data set consisted of all those who transitioned into marriage) and each data set consisted of two waves of data (i.e., wave t when transition occurred and wave t-1). Using a latent-change model, separately for each Big5 transition we tested the main effects of age (at time t), cohort (year of high-school graduation), and gender (female = 1) and the interactive effects of cohortXage and cohortXgender on change (across t and t-1) in substance use while controlling for all other Big5 social roles, race, and SES.

For each transition latent change in substance use was in the expected direction, typically substantial in size, and varied sharply by age and/or cohort (Table 1). Generally, effects of age and gender were negative whereas effects of cohort were positive; in Figures 1a and 1b these effects are depicted for males and females, respectively, for binge drinking and the transition into employment (across cohort groups latent change becomes less positive/more negative as age increases; across age groups latent change is more positive/less negative among more historically recent cohort groups; latent change is more negative/less positive for females). When statistically significant, age-by-cohort interactions indicated that cohort differences were more evident at the younger end of the 18-30 age band and cohort-by-gender interactions indicate that cohort differences were less evident for females.

Results indicate that Big5 transitions pose greater substance use risk for today’s young adults (for transitions entailing increases in use, recent cohorts increase more; for transitions entailing decreases in use, recent cohorts decrease less). This heightened risk appears more acute for males and for those making these transitions at younger ages. Policy and prevention implications will be discussed.

Author

• Justin Jager, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author