Citation

Jacob T, Koenig LB, Howell DN, Wood PK, Haber JR. J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 2009; 70(6): 859-869.

Affiliation

Family Research Center, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, 795 Willow Road (MC 151J), Menlo Park, California 94025.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

19895762

PMCID

PMC2776117

Abstract

Objective: Although it has been recognized that the course of alcoholism may differ across individuals, little work has characterized drinking trajectories from drinking onset to midlife. Method: The current study examined trajectories of alcohol dependence from adolescence to the mid-50s in a sample of 420 men with a lifetime diagnosis of alcohol dependence. Men from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry were given the Lifetime Drinking History, which assesses the patterns of alcohol consumption and diagnostic symptoms for self-defined drinking phases. Phase data were converted into person-year data, with alcohol-dependence diagnosis coded as present or absent for each of 13 age groupings, starting with up to age 20 and ending with ages 54-56. Results: Latent growth mixture modeling was used to define four drinking trajectories: young-adult, late-onset, severe-nonchronic, and severe-chronic alcoholics. Further analyses with other diagnostic variables, other drinking variables, alcohol expectancies, personality scales, and religiousness scores were completed to differentiate men best categorized by each trajectory. Conclusions: Extension of Latent Growth Mixture Modeling (LGMM) into the mid-50s revealed that, although some individuals remain chronic alcohol users, others decline in alcohol problem use. Differences seen among these groups may help in the treatment of alcohol dependence, such that more energy can be spent treating those likely to be in the more severe trajectories.

Language: en