title: Patterns of alcohol use and consequences among empirically derived sexual minority subgroups.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study develops an empirically determined classification of sexual orientation developmental patterns based on participants' annual reports of self-identifications, sexual attractions, and sexual behaviors during the first 4 years of college. A secondary aim of the current work was to examine trajectories of alcohol involvement among identified subgroups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were drawn from a subsample of a longitudinal study of incoming first-time college students at a large, public university (n = 2,068). Longitudinal latent class analysis was used to classify sexual minority participants into empirically derived subgroups based on three self-reported facets of sexual orientation. Multivariate repeated-measures analyses were conducted to examine how trajectories of alcohol involvement varied by sexual orientation class membership.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four unique subclasses of sexual orientation developmental patterns were identified for males and females: one consistently exclusively heterosexual group and three sexual minority groups. Despite generally similar alcohol use patterns among subclasses, certain sexual minority subgroups reported elevated levels of alcohol-related negative consequences and maladaptive motivations for use throughout college compared with their exclusively heterosexual counterparts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevations in coping and conformity motivations for alcohol use were seen among those subgroups that also evidenced heightened negative alcohol-related consequences. Implications and limitations of the current work are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri and the Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA. Talleyae@missouri.edu
authors.forename: Amelia E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Talley
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Sher
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steinley
authors.forename: Phillip K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Littlefield
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*