title: Longitudinal relationships between college education and patterns of heavy drinking: a comparison between Caucasians and African-Americans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study compared longitudinal relationships between college education and patterns of heavy drinking from early adolescence to adulthood for Caucasians and African-Americans.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from 9,988 non-Hispanic Caucasian and African-American participants from all four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Growth curve modeling tested differences in rates of change and levels of heavy drinking from ages 13 to 31 years among non-college youth, college withdrawers, 2-year college graduates, and 4-year college graduates, and compared these differences for Caucasians and African-Americans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant racial differences in relationships between college education with both changes in and levels of heavy drinking. Rates of change of heavy drinking differed significantly across the college education groups examined for Caucasians but not for African-Americans. In addition, Caucasians who graduated from 4-year colleges showed the highest levels of heavy drinking after age 20 years, although differences among the four groups diminished by the early 30s. In contrast, for African-Americans, graduates from 2- or 4-year colleges did not show higher levels of heavy drinking from ages 20 to 31 years than the non-college group. Instead, African-American participants who withdrew from college without an associate's, bachelor's, or professional degree consistently exhibited the highest levels of heavy drinking from ages 26 to 31 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relationship between college education and increased levels of heavy drinking in young adulthood is significant for Caucasians but not African-Americans. Conversely, African-Americans are likely to be more adversely affected than are Caucasians by college withdrawal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology Research Unit, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. pchen2@yoda.bsd.uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kristen C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Jacobson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000208:ethnology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D063588:National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D014495:Universities; D044465:White People
keywords: Alcohol use; College education; Heavy drinking; Racial differences