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.
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.
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.
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.
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