Adulthood Sequela of Adolescent Heavy Drinking Among Mexican Americans

This study examines mental health & behavioral sequela of heavy drinking in adolescence among Mexican American adults between 18 & 59 years of age. It was found that adolescent heavy drinkers had higher lifetime mood & drug abuse or dependence disorders, & higher rates of suicide attempts & behavior problems than abstainers or moderate drinkers. In multivariate contrasts, adolescent heavy drinkers were 3 times more likely to have lifetime drug abuse or dependence diagnoses & were twice as likely to have attempted suicide than other subgroups. (31 refs)