NCJ Number
216442
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 35 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 741-754
Date Published
October 2006
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Utilizing a sample of college freshman, this study examined differences among distinct types of high school drinkers on their alcohol involvement and psychosocial adjustment during the first semester of college.
Abstract
Study findings indicate moderate support for predictions. Relative stability was found in drinker typologies across the transition to college; however, this was stronger for abstainers and heavy users than for experimenters and moderate users. The 1980 theory of ego-control and resilience was supported such that high school experimenters showed better adaptation than abstainers and heavier users on indices of negative and positive affect. The potential for high school drinking behaviors to hinder acclimation to the college environment has been shown in previous studies. This study examined the effects of high school drinker typologies on adjustment during the first semester of college using a person-centered approach. The study of 147 college freshman examined the stability of different subgroups of high school drinkers across the college transition, to test the exacerbating effect of restrictive parenting on high school abstainers’ drinking patterns upon entry into college, and to test whether high school experimenters would be better psychosocially adjusted than other drinker types as they acclimate to college. Tables, figures, references