Alcohol Use from Adolescence to Adulthood Follows Different, Complex Pathways, Maastricht University Medical Center Study

Adolescence is often a time of novelty seeking and risk taking, including the initiation of drinking. While heavy drinking that begins in adolescence can lead to problematic alcohol use later in life, other risk factors are also involved in trajectories of alcohol use that may develop. A study of factors predicting alcohol use and patterns of use over time has identified six distinct trajectories that concern level of alcohol use, rate of increase in use during early adolescence, and persistence of use into adulthood.