Alcohol-related harms are a broad range of negative consequences that can result from drinking alcohol. These can range from things that only affect your body, such as feeling sick or having a hangover, to things that affect you psychologically and socially, such as having problems with friends or getting into fights.
Our study examined whether adolescents experienced different patterns of alcohol-related harm as they age, whether there are any factors in early adolescence that can predict these patterns, and whether some patterns were linked to higher risk of alcohol use disorder in early adulthood.
Who participated in this study?
We used eight years’ of data from 1,828 participants from the Australian Parental Supply of Alcohol Longitudinal Study (APSALS) cohort, which is one of the longest running studies on the effects of parental supply of alcohol to adolescents.
What were the aims of this study?
We first wanted to find common clusters of different types of alcohol-related harm. For example, if you often feel sick after drinking alcohol, would you also typically have a hangover? If you often have fights with your friends after drinking alcohol, would you also typically get into trouble with your parents?
Next, we wanted to find common patterns of transitioning across these clusters of harm throughout three key points in adolescence:
- Age 15, which is typically just before or around the time when most adolescents start to try alcohol.
- Age 17, which is when more than half of our participants had tried alcohol.
- Age 19, which is when participants have reached the legal age of purchasing alcohol and consuming alcohol at a licensed venue in Australia.
We also wanted to identify if there were any child, parent, or peer factors at age 13 that predicted specific patterns of alcohol-related harm, and whether specific patterns of alcohol-related harm increased the chance of having alcohol use disorder symptoms at age 20.
What clusters of alcohol-related harms did we find?
We found three common clusters of alcohol-related harm:
- Minimal harms, where harms were very rare or not experienced at all.
- Physiological harms, where harms that affect the body were common, but harms that affect psychological and social aspects were very rare.
- All harms, where harms that affect the body and harms that affect psychological and social aspects were all common.
What patterns of transitioning across these harm clusters did we find?
We found five common patterns of transitioning:
- Minimal harms, consisting of around 21% of participants, where minimal harms were experienced throughout all three points in adolescence.
- Late physiological harms, consisting of around 38% of participants, where minimal harms were experienced until age 19, when harms that affect the body became common.
- Early physiological harms, consisting of around 12% of participants, where minimal harms were experienced until age 17, when harms that affect the body became common.
- Late all harms, consisting of around 7% of participants, where minimal harms were experienced until age 19, when harms that affect the body as well as psychological and social harms became common.
- Gradual all harms, consisting of around 9% of participants, where minimal harms were experienced until age 17 when harms that affect the body were common, and then at age 19 psychological and social harms also became common.
What factors in early adolescence predicted these patterns of transitioning?
We found two factors in early adolescence that predicted some transition patterns. These were:
- Being female, which increases risk of experiencing the early physiological harms pattern compared to the late physiological harms pattern.
- Having more peers who use substances such as alcohol and tobacco, which increases risk of experiencing the early physiological harms pattern as well as the gradual all harms pattern compared to the late physiological harms pattern.
Which patterns of transitioning predicted alcohol use disorder symptoms?
Because young Australians tend to experience harms following the late physiological harms pattern (this was also the pattern most common in our cohort), we examined whether the other patterns increased or decreased risk of alcohol use disorder symptoms at age 20 compared to the late physiological harms pattern:
- Minimal harms had around one-fifth the chance of having alcohol use disorder symptoms at age 20 compared to the late physiological harms pattern.
- Early physiological harms did not have noticeably different risk of alcohol use disorder symptoms at age compared to the late physiological harms pattern.
- Late all harms led to nearly four times the risk of having alcohol use disorder symptoms at age 20 compared to the late physiological harms pattern.
- Gradual all harms led to over four times the risk of having alcohol use disorder symptoms at age 20 compared to the late physiological harms pattern.
What is the main takeaway message for this study?
Young adolescents with peers who use substances may be at risk of experiencing psychological and social alcohol-related harms. Experiencing a broad range of alcohol-related harms in late adolescence, particularly those of a psychological and social nature, may be a warning sign for alcohol use disorder in early adulthood.
Where can I find more information about this study?
If you’d like to read the full paper or have any questions about this study, please contact Wing See Yuen at w.yuen@unsw.edu.au.