title: Alcohol use among American Indian high school youths from adolescence and young adulthood: a latent Markov model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We explored patterns of alcohol use among American Indian youths as well as concurrent predictors and developmental outcomes 6 years later.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used six semi-annual waves of data collected across 3 years from 861 American Indian youths, ages 14-20 initially, from two western tribes. Using a latent Markov model, we examined patterns of change in latent states of adolescent alcohol use in the past 6 months, combining these states of alcohol use into three latent statuses that described patterns of change across the 3 years: abstainers, inconsistent drinkers, and consistent drinkers. We then explored how the latent statuses differed, both initially and in young adulthood (ages 20-26).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both alcohol use and nonuse were quite stable across time, although we also found evidence of change. Despite some rather troubling drinking patterns as teens, especially among consistent drinkers, most of the youths had achieved important tasks of young adulthood. But patterns of use during adolescence were related to greater levels of substance use in young adulthood.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Latent Markov modeling provided a useful categorization of alcohol use that more finely differentiated those youths who would otherwise have been considered inconsistent drinkers. Findings also suggest that broad-based interventions during adolescence may not be the most important ones; instead, programs targeting later alcohol and other drug use may be a more strategic use of often limited resources.
authors.affiliation: American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, University of Colorado Denver, F800, P.O. Box 6508, Aurora, Colorado 80045-0508, USA. Christina.Mitchell@UCDenver.edu
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Janette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beals
authors.forename: Nancy Rumbaugh
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Whitesell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008390:Markov Chains; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology
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