title: Drinking Like an Adult? Trajectories of Alcohol Use Patterns Before and After College Graduation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  College students who engage in high-risk drinking patterns are thought to "mature out" of these patterns as they transition to adult roles. College graduation is an important milestone demarcating this transition. We examine longitudinal changes in quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption between the college years and the 4 years after graduation and explore variation in these changes by gender and race/ethnicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 1,128 college graduates enrolled in a longitudinal prospective study of health-risk behaviors. Standard measures of alcohol consumption were gathered during 8 annual personal interviews (76 to 91% annual follow-up). Graduation dates were culled from administrative data and self-report. Spline models, in which separate trajectories were modeled before and after the "knot" of college graduation, were fit to 8 annual observations of past-year alcohol use frequency and quantity (typical number of drinks/drinking day).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Frequency increased linearly pregraduation, slightly decreased postgraduation, and then rebounded to pregraduation levels. Pregraduation frequency increased more steeply among individuals who drank more heavily at college entry. Quantity decreased linearly during college, followed by quadratic decreases after graduation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that the postcollege "maturing-out" phenomenon might be attributable to decreases in alcohol quantity but not frequency. High-frequency drinking patterns that develop during college appear to persist several years postgraduation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health, Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland.
authors.forename: Amelia M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Arria
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health, Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland.
authors.forename: Kimberly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Caldeira
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health, Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland.
authors.forename: Hannah K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health, Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland.
authors.forename: Kathryn B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health, Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, Maryland.
authors.forename: Brittany A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bugbee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
authors.forename: Kevin E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: O'Grady
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends*; D000067292:Alcohol Drinking in College / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D014495:Universities / Q000639:trends*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol Use Trajectories; College Graduation; College Students; Longitudinal Research; Maturing Out