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Over the past several years, there has been growing interest in identifying distinct developmental trajectories of substance use. Using data from the RAND Adolescent/ Young Adult Panel Study (N = 6, 527), we synthesize our prior findings on patterns of smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use from early adolescence (age 13) to emerging adulthood (age 23). We also present new data on how these trajectory classes compare on key psychosocial and behavioral outcomes during emerging adulthood. For each type of substance use, we found two periods of vulnerability: early adolescence and the transition to emerging adulthood. As expected, early users were at relatively high risk for poor outcomes at age 23 compared to consistent low-level users and abstainers, even if they reduced their use during adolescence. However, youths who were not early users, but steadily increased their use over time, also tended to be at relatively high risk. Results suggest that multiple prevention approaches might be needed to successfully reach at-risk youths.

The theory of emerging adulthood has been proposed as a way of conceptualizing the developmental characteristics of young people between the ages of 18 and 25. Here, the theory is applied to explaining the high rates of substance use in this age group. Specifically, five developmentally distinctive features of emerging adulthood are proposed: the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the age of self-focus, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities. Then, each of these features is applied to an explanation of drug use in emerging adulthood.

The present study described the prevalence of adult role taking and substance use among individuals attending alternative high schools, who were followed for five years to early emerging adulthood (n = 848). Psychosocial factors at baseline and adult role taking at the follow-up were examined as correlates of substance use during emerging adulthood. At this stage of fife, 74% of subjects were employed, 30% were married or engaged, and 43% had at least one child. One third of subjects were daily cigarette smokers, and 24% had used marijuana in the past 30 days. Forty-seven percent had experienced negative consequences of alcohol or drug use in the last year. The most consistent positive predictors of substance use in emerging adulthood were male gender and previous drug use. Addiction concern was a consistent negative predictor. After controlling for baseline psychosocial variables, attending school and being married at the five-year follow-up were negative correlates of both personal consequences and problems related to alcohol or drug use.

This study examines transitions in alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use and alcohol- and marijuana-related problems from late adolescence through young adulthood. Men and women who attend college are compared to their peers who do not to determine if the situational/socialization effects of college are unique during this developmental period. Prospective data from a community sample were collected at ages 18, 21, and 30 years. ANOVAs revealed that 18 year olds who transition out of high school, regardless of college status, reported higher levels of substance use than their peers who were still in high school. In addition, nonstudents compared to college students reported higher levels of cigarette and marijuana use in adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood and higher levels of alcohol- and marijuana-related problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that college status was related to lower levels of alcohol and marijuana problems at age 18, greater increases from ages 18 to 21, and greater decreases from ages 21 to 30 even after controlling for level and growth in use. Overall, the findings suggest that nonstudents may be a more important target group than college students for drug use prevention efforts during emerging adulthood.