Within-person Increases Research Articles

Acting Like a Baby Boomer? Birth-Cohort Differences in Adults’ Personality Trajectories During the Last Half a Century

Society and developmental theory generally assume that there are wide generational differences in personality. Yet evidence showing historical change in the levels of adult Big Five traits is scarce and particularly so for developmental change. We tracked adult trajectories of personality in 4,732 participants (age: M = 52.93 years, SD = 16.69; 53% female) from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (born 1883–1976) across 50 years. Multilevel models revealed evidence for historical change in personality: At age 56, later-born cohorts exhibited lower levels of maturity-related traits (agreeableness and neuroticism) and higher levels of agency-related traits (extraversion and openness) than earlier-born cohorts. Historical changes in agreeableness and neuroticism were more pronounced among young adults, but changes in openness were less pronounced. Cohort differences in change were rare and were observed only for agreeableness; within-person increases were more pronounced among later-born cohorts. Our results yield the first evidence for historical change in the Big Five across adulthood and point to the roles of delayed social-investment and maturity effects.

Within-Person Predictors of Same-Day Alcohol and Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use Among Youth Presenting to an Urban Emergency Department

Simultaneous alcohol and nonmedical prescription drug use (NMPDU) increases acute risks (e.g., overdose) associated with each; understanding social, substance use, and mental health predictors of same-day use may suggest intervention targets. At an urban emergency department, research assistants recruited youth ages 14-24 reporting past-6-month substance use (n = 599; 58.8% male). Participants self-administered validated measures of alcohol consumption, cannabis use severity (quantity and consequences), mental health symptoms, and social influences at baseline and at four biannual follow-ups. In addition, participants completed Timeline Followback calendars that assessed same-day use of alcohol and prescription drugs. We used negative binomial regression with person-level fixed effects to isolate within-person predictor effects on same-day use frequency. Between 6.0% (baseline) and 8.6% (6-month follow-up) of youth reported same-day alcohol use and NMPDU across follow-ups. Within-person increases in alcohol consumption, cannabis use severity, and depression and anxiety symptoms all corresponded to greater same-day alcohol and NMPDU frequency, with consistent findings across genders. Increased positive peer behaviors corresponded to decreased same-day use frequency among males but not females. Decreased parental support and increased delinquent peer exposures corresponded to greater same-day use frequency among females but not males. Substance use and mental health symptom escalation are robust predictors of greater same-day use frequency, whereas the roles of social factors appear gender-specific. Interrupting worsening trajectories of substance use and mental health symptoms, and enhancing social support and reducing delinquent peer exposures, may reduce same-day use frequency.

Change in Episodic Memory With Spousal Loss: The Role of Social Relationships.

The spousal relationship is one of the most important social contexts in old age, and the loss of a spouse/partner is associated with stress and cognitive decline. In the present study, we examined whether social relationships can buffer potential negative effects of spousal loss on cognition. We examined the role of social network, social activities, and perceived deficiencies in social relationships (loneliness). We used longitudinal data between 1998 and 2012 from 2,074 participants of the Health and Retirement Study, who had experienced spousal loss during the study period. Multilevel modeling was used to examine how time-varying indicators of social network, social activities, and loneliness were related to age-related trajectories of episodic memory prior to and after spousal loss. Analyses controlled for gender, race/ethnicity, education, time-varying functional health, and being repartnered/remarried. Having children living within 10 miles and providing help to others buffered negative effects of widowhood on episodic memory. In addition, within-person increase in providing help to others buffered against decline in episodic memory after spousal loss. Having friends in the neighborhood, more frequent social visits, providing help to others, volunteering, and lack of loneliness were related to higher episodic memory, while having relatives in the neighborhood was related to lower episodic memory. Our findings suggest that social networks, social activities, and loneliness are related to levels of cognitive function at the time of spousal loss and that social relationships can buffer negative effects of spousal loss on cognitive function. Implications for future research are discussed.

The Role of Social Connection/engagement Predicts Changes in Depressive Symptoms and IADL in Stroke

Social connections/engagement have been found to be potentially protective against depression and declines in physical functioning. We examined whether social connection/engagement was protective against depression and functional decline after stroke. Participants were 898 individuals with incident stroke from the Health and Retirement Study between 1998-2012. Multilevel modeling was used to examine how social connection/engagement were associated with trajectories of depressive symptoms and limitations with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Models controlled for age, gender, education, and race. In addition, analyses with depressive symptoms as outcome controlled for functional limitations with ADLs. Participants who were lonely and did not have friends in their neighborhood pre-stroke had more depressive symptoms at the time of stroke. Participants with close children pre-stroke showed less increase in depressive symptoms over time. Within-person increase in loneliness and within-person decline in providing help were related to more depressive symptoms post-stroke. Participants who felt lonely and did not provide help pre-stroke had more IADL limitations at the time of stroke. Smaller pre-stroke household size and pre-stroke volunteering were associated with less increase in IADL limitations with stroke. Within-person increase in having friends and providing help after stroke were associated with fewer IADL limitations post-stroke. Taken together, these findings suggest that social connection/engagement may buffer the negative psychological and physical outcomes of a stressful event such as stroke.

From social withdrawal to depression: A quasireplication and extension of Boivin, Hymel, and Bukowski (1995).

Tenets of the Boivin et al. (1995) social process model were reexamined with two longitudinal samples using both the original and contemporary analytic strategies. Study goals included reconstructing (e.g., quasireplicating) Boivin et al.'s (1995) original findings and evaluating hypothesized relations across both comparable and longer developmental epochs. Samples included 491 children (245 girls, Mage = 10.0; 80.1% White;19.1% low-, 43.1% middle- or higher-income) followed from grades 4 to 12 and 272 children (148 girls, Mage = 9.61; 84.2% White; 8.2% low-, 17.1% middle-, 74.7% upper middle to higher-income) followed from grades 4 to 5. The assumption that social withdrawal instigates a cascade of within-person changes in the quality of peer relationships, sense of loneliness and social dissatisfaction, and depression was evaluated using Boivin et al.'s (1995) original regression strategy plus two variants of cross-lagged panel models (classical CLPM; Latent Curve Model with Structured Residuals [LCM-SR]). Unlike classical CLPM, LCM-SR allowed for isolating within-person changes and testing hypothesized predictors of within-person increases and decreases. Results differed by type of analysis. Regression and classical CLPM yielded greater substantiation for some of the processes stipulated by Boivin et al. (1995). LCM-SR results, however, called into question the assumption of a cascade effect of early social withdrawal and the reliance on traditional regression and CLPM analyses to test for presumed predictors of within person change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Age and socioeconomic differences in coping with home stressors: A daily diary study of mindfulness and anticipatory coping

Anticipatory coping involves efforts to reduce the consequences of upcoming, future stressors, but the individual and contextual predictors of anticipatory coping are not well understood. The current study focuses on individual differences in age and income and contextual fluctuations in mindfulness (present-centered thinking) to predict daily fluctuations in anticipatory coping with future home-related stressors. In the Mindfulness and Anticipatory Coping Everyday study, 223 adults (116 aged 60–90, 107 aged 18–36) completed an online questionnaire for nine consecutive days via Qualtrics, providing demographic information on Day 1. For the subsequent 8 days, participants reported mindfulness and anticipatory coping. Multilevel models revealed that within-person increases in daily mindfulness were related to decreases in daily anticipatory coping among younger adults and higher income older adults. This research provides evidence of tension between mindfulness and future-oriented coping and shows how this depends on one's life stage and access to resources.

Cigarette Pack Price and Its Within-Person Association With Smoking Initiation, Smoking Progression, and Disparities among Young Adults.

There is a dearth of research on within-person relationships between tobacco price and cigarette smoking initiation and progression in young adulthood. This project examines the within-person association between cigarette pack price and smoking initiation and progression between age 18 and 21/22, focusing on differences across subgroups. Data came from the longitudinal Monitoring the Future (MTF) project. MTF examines drug use behaviors with nationally representative samples of 12th graders annually. Subsamples of 12th graders are annually selected and followed longitudinally. Among 12th graders from baseline years 2000-2014, we examined past 30-day cigarette smoking initiation among baseline never smokers (N = 15 280) and progression to daily smoking among youth who were not daily smokers at baseline (N = 26 998). We used hierarchical logistic regression and interaction terms to assess differences across sex, race/ethnicity, and parental education. The within-person relationship between pack price and smoking indicated that a one-dollar increase in pack price corresponded with a 72% decrease in the odds of initiation (AOR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.18, 0.44) and 70% decrease in the odds of progression to daily smoking (AOR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.21, 0.44). There was a linear age trend for both smoking initiation and progression. There were no statistically significant interactions between price and demographics, making it difficult to disentangle differences across subgroups. Exposure to increased cigarette prices during young adulthood was associated with lower odds of cigarette smoking initiation and progression. Additional policies and programs beyond cigarettes prices could help reduce tobacco-related disparities in smoking initiation and progression among young adults. There is a strong, within-person relationship between cigarette prices and smoking initiation and progression during the transition to young adulthood: higher prices are associated with decreased odds of both initiation and progression. Cigarette taxation can help to prevent smoking initiation and progression among youth, but it is less clear how taxes are associated with disparities in smoking experienced by certain subgroups. We could not draw definitive conclusions about the impact of cigarette prices on tobacco-related disparities. Tobacco taxes should be increased on a regular basis to ensure young adults experience within-person increases in prices, and complementary programs geared toward reducing tobacco-related disparities among young adults should be promoted.

Do Alcohol Consequences Serve as Teachable Moments? A Test of Between- and Within-Person Reciprocal Effects From College Age to Adulthood

Several studies find between-person reciprocal relations between adolescent/college drinking and positive expectancies. However, drinking and expectancies from college into adulthood are largely unstudied, as are within-person associations. During these age periods, negative alcohol consequences may represent "teachable moments" via expectancy change. The current study tested the reciprocal effects of drinking, negative consequences, and expectancies from college age to adulthood. Using data from a longitudinal study focused on familial alcohol disorder, age bands were created to model effects from college age (18-22) to young adulthood (23-28) and adulthood (29-34). Participants (N = 420) reported on their drinking, negative consequences, and expectancies across three waves (1995-2010). Negative consequences did not predict negative expectancies, but the random intercepts of the two were highly related. Young adult negative consequences predicted a within-person increase in adult heavy drinking. A within-person increase in college age negative expectancies indirectly predicted a within-person decrease in adult negative consequences through reduced young adult drinking, whereas within-person increases in college age positive expectancies indirectly predicted a within-person increase in adult negative consequences through heavier young adult drinking. Findings suggest that negative consequences were related to trait-level negative expectancies, even though prospective effects were not observed. Findings also suggest that college age negative expectancies were protective against future use and consequences, and this effect was unique to college age.

Longitudinal associations between negative life events and depressive symptoms-A 9-year longitudinal study on between-person and within-person effects and the role of family history.

Research has shown that negative life events contribute to the development of depression. Moreover, it has been suggested that individuals with a family history of depression experience more negative life events and are more susceptible to the effect of negative life events. However, previous studies did not differentiate stable between-person effects (interindividual differences) and temporal within-person effects (intraindividual differences). This study aims to examine the bidirectional relation between negative life events and depressive symptoms using a novel statistical method (i.e., a random intercept cross-lagged panel model) that allows to separate within-person from between-person processes. Second, we examined the role of family history in that relation. Data came from 1,771 adults (1,320 with a depressive and/or anxiety disorder, 451 controls) that were followed over 9 years (baseline, 2-, 4-, 6-, and 9-year follow-up). Questionnaires were used to measure depressive symptoms and the number of independent (i.e., events independent of someone's symptoms) and dependent negative life events (i.e., events more likely to be influenced by a person). Results showed that individuals with more negative life events experienced more depressive symptoms on a between-person level. Additionally, although the effects were considerably smaller, results suggested within-person increases in dependent and independent negative life events were correlated with within-person increases in depressive symptoms. Overall, our results suggest that negative life events and depressive symptoms are more consistently associated on a between-person than on a within-person level. Thus, negative life events may rather explain differences in depressive symptoms between persons than within persons. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Daily experiences of subjective age discordance and well-being.

Subjective age discordance (SAD) captures the difference between how old one feels and how old one would ideally like to be. We investigated the presence, strength, and fluctuation of this discordance in daily life as well as its relationship to various indicators of physical and psychological well-being with an 8-day diary study. Participants were 116 older and 107 younger adults who completed daily measures of felt age, ideal age, positive and negative affect, physical symptoms, and stressors. We operationalized SAD as felt age minus ideal age divided by chronological age and compared the utility of this discordance to the more established proportional discrepancy of felt age from chronological age. Daily SAD was present in both age groups, such that individuals idealized younger ages than they felt. This discordance was larger in older than younger adults, although younger adults exhibited more daily fluctuations in SAD. Within-person increases in SAD were associated with lower positive affect, whereas larger SAD at the between-person level was associated with more physical symptoms and stressors. These relationships were over and above the associations of felt and chronological age with the outcomes suggesting the utility of daily SAD for understanding daily physical and psychological well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Child and family predictors of insomnia from early childhood to adolescence

BackgroundInsomnia is prevalent among children and adolescents and is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes. Knowledge about its determinants is therefore important, but due to the lack of longitudinal studies, such knowledge is limited. The aim of the present inquiry is to identify child and family predictors of future pediatric insomnia within a psycho-bio-behavioral framework. MethodsA representative community sample (n = 1,037) was followed biennially from 4 to 14 years of age (2007–2017). Insomnia was defined based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria and was diagnosed by a semistructured clinical interview of children (from age eight years of age) and parents (all ages). Predictors included parent ratings of child emotional reactivity, family functioning, and marital conflict; self-reports of personality; and teacher-rated emotion regulation skills. ResultsRandom intercept cross-lagged analyses revealed that within-person increases (ie, relative to the child's typical levels across childhood) in emotional reactivity and decreases in emotion regulation skills predicted insomnia diagnosis two years later from ages 4 to 14 after adjusting for previous insomnia and all unmeasured time-invariant factors. Previous insomnia was the strongest predictor of later insomnia, whereas family functioning and marital conflict did not predict insomnia. ConclusionsIncreases in emotional reactivity and decreases in emotion regulation skills predicted insomnia above and beyond all unmeasured time-invariant factors and could be targets for interventions. Previous insomnia predicted later insomnia, thereby underscoring the importance of detecting, preventing, and treating insomnia at an early age.

Growing desire or growing apart? Consequences of personal self-expansion for romantic passion.

Romantic passion represents one of the most fragile and elusive elements of relationship quality but one that is increasingly valued and tied to relationship and individual well-being. We provide the first examination of whether experiencing personal self-expansion-positive self-change and personal growth without a romantic partner-is a critical predictor of passion. Previous research has almost exclusively examined the consequences of couples' sharing novel experiences (i.e., relational self-expansion) on romantic relationships. Instead, the consequences of personal self-expansion for romantic relationships remain largely unexamined even though most positive self-growth may occur without a romantic partner (e.g., at work). We investigated the consequences of personal self-expansion for passion in three studies including two 21-day experience sampling studies of community couples and a study in a context likely to elicit heightened personal self-expansion: during job relocation. Within-person increases in daily personal self-expansion were associated with greater passion through greater positive emotions (Studies 1 and 2). In contrast, high between-person levels of personal self-expansion were associated with lower passion through lower levels of intimacy, suggesting that individuals may drift apart from their partners with more chronic personal self-expansion (Studies 1, 2, and 3). That is, consistently growing outside of the relationship in ways that are not shared with a romantic partner may reduce feelings of closeness and connection, and ultimately passion. Results also suggest that chronic personal self-expansion may be a double-edged sword for individual well-being, simultaneously associated with lower passion, but greater fulfillment of competence needs. Results controlled for relational self-expansion and time together. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Role of Social Connection/Engagement in Episodic Memory Change in Stroke.

Positive associations between social connection/engagement and cognitive function are well documented. However, little is known about whether social connection/engagement can buffer the impact of serious brain injury such as stroke on cognitive functioning. Participants were 898 individuals with incident stroke from the Health and Retirement Study between 1998 and 2012. Multilevel modeling was used to examine how social connection/engagement was associated with episodic memory pre- and poststroke. Models controlled for age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, number of health conditions, and functional health. Participants who were lonely prestroke recalled significantly fewer words at the time of stroke, and participants who had children residing within 10 miles prestroke showed significantly less decline in word recall over time. Participants who provided help to others prestroke showed less stroke-related decline in word recall. Within-person increase in partnered status, having friends, and helping others were related to better word recall in the poststroke period. Higher prestroke levels of social connection/engagement predicted better episodic memory at stroke, a smaller decline in episodic memory with stroke, and less decline in episodic memory over time. Increases in social connection/engagement from pre- to poststroke also predicted better poststroke episodic memory. Beyond the widely documented benefits of social connection/engagement to well-being, they may also increase cognitive stimulation and cognitive reserve and thus contribute to stroke recovery in the cognitive domain. Social connection/engagement is an important and modifiable risk factor in older adults.

Women’s attractiveness contingent self-esteem, romantic rejection, and body dissatisfaction

The centrality of attractiveness to social evaluations of women puts women at particular risk of body dissatisfaction. However, it is less clear who these social standards most affect and the situations in which they are most salient. Women whose self-esteem is more contingent on standards of attractiveness (ACSE) should be particularly vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, particularly in contexts that provide negative attractiveness-relevant feedback such as romantic rejection. The current research tested whether women higher in ACSE experienced greater body dissatisfaction in the context of naturally-occurring experiences of romantic rejection. In Study 1, women (N = 168) identified and recalled a range of prior rejection experiences and reported their body dissatisfaction. Women higher in ACSE recalled greater body dissatisfaction in the context of romantic rejection. In Study 2, women (N = 101) recorded daily experiences of romantic rejection and body dissatisfaction (N = 885 daily records). Women higher in ACSE experienced greater within-person increases in body dissatisfaction on days they reported romantic rejection. The results emphasize the relevance of romantic rejection for understanding women’s body dissatisfaction and help explain inconsistencies in the literature by illustrating that higher ACSE is associated with greater body dissatisfaction in contexts that provide negative attractiveness-related feedback.

Coping and Mental Health in Early Adolescence during COVID-19.

The current longitudinal study examines changes in overall mental health symptomatology from before to after the COVID-19 outbreak in youth from the southeastern United States as well as the potential mitigating effects of self-efficacy, optimism, and coping. A sample of 105 parent–child dyads participated in the study (49% boys; 81% European American, 1% Alaska Native/American Indian, 9% Asian/Asian American; 4% Black/African American; 4% Latinx; and 4% other; 87% mothers; 25% high school graduate without college education; 30% degree from 4-year college; 45% graduate or professional school). Parents completed surveys when children were aged 6–9, 8–12, 9–13, and 12–16, with the last assessments occurring between May 13, 2020 and July 1, 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak. Children also completed online surveys at ages 11–16 assessing self-efficacy, optimism, and coping. Multi-level modeling analyses showed a within-person increase in mental health symptoms from before to after the outbreak after controlling for changes associated with maturation. Symptom increases were mitigated in youth with greater self-efficacy and (to some extent) problem-focused engaged coping, and exacerbated in youth with greater emotion-focused engaged and disengaged coping. Implications of this work include the importance of reinforcing self-efficacy in youth during times of crisis, such as the pandemic, and the potential downsides of emotion-focused coping as an early response to the crisis for youth.

Mild Motor Signs Matter in Typical Brain Aging: The Value of the UPDRS Score Within a Functionally Intact Cohort of Older Adults

Objectives: To characterize the clinical correlates of subclinical Parkinsonian signs, including longitudinal cognitive and neural (via functional connectivity) outcomes, among functionally normal older adults.Methods: Participants included 737 functionally intact community-dwelling older adults who performed prospective comprehensive evaluations at ~15-months intervals for an average of 4.8 years (standard deviation 3.2 years). As part of these evaluations, participants completed the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) longitudinally and measures of processing speed, executive functioning and verbal episodic memory. T1-weighted structural scans and task-free functional MRI scans were acquired on 330 participants. We conducted linear mixed-effects models to determine the relationship between changes in UPDRS with cognitive and neural changes, using age, sex, and education as covariates.Results: Cognitive outcomes were processing speed, executive functioning, and episodic memory. Greater within-person increases in UPDRS were associated with more cognitive slowing over time. Although higher average UPDRS scores were significantly associated with overall poorer executive functions, there was no association between UPDRS and executive functioning longitudinally. UPDRS scores did not significantly relate to longitudinal memory performances. Regarding neural correlates, greater increases in UPDRS scores were associated with reduced intra-subcortical network connectivity over time. There were no relationships with intra-frontoparietal or inter-subcortical-frontoparietal connectivity.Conclusions: Our findings add to the aging literature by indicating that mild motor changes are negatively associated with cognition and network connectivity in functionally intact adults.

A longitudinal study of psychological distress in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused financial stress and disrupted daily life more quickly than any prior economic downturn and on a scale beyond any prior natural disaster. This study aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on psychological distress and identify vulnerable groups using longitudinal data to account for pre-pandemic mental health status. Clinically significant psychological distress was assessed with the Kessler-6 in a national probability sample of adults in the United States at two time points, February 2019 (T1) and May 2020 (T2). To identify increases in distress, psychological distress during the worst month of the past year at T1 was compared with psychological distress over the past 30-days at T2. Survey adjusted logistic regression was used to estimate associations of demographic characteristics at T1 (gender, age, race, and income) and census region at T2 with within-person increases in psychological distress.The past-month prevalence of serious psychological distress at T2 was as high as the past-year prevalence at T1 (10.9% vs. 10.2%). Psychological distress was strongly associated across assessments (X2(4) = 174.6, p < .0001). Increase in psychological distress above T1 was associated with gender, age, household income, and census region. Equal numbers of people experienced serious psychological distress in 30-days during the pandemic as did over an entire year prior to the pandemic. Mental health services and research efforts should be targeted to those with a history of mental health conditions and groups identified as at high risk for increases in distress above pre-pandemic levels.

Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Predict Annual Increases in Generalized Prejudice

Although right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) are the two most studied individual difference correlates of prejudice, debate remains over their status as enduring constructs that precede generalized prejudice. We contribute to this discussion using 10 annual waves of longitudinal data from a nationwide random sample of adults to investigate the stability and temporal precedence of RWA, SDO, and prejudice among members of an ethnic majority group (Ns = 23,383–47,217). Results reveal high wave-to-wave rank-order stability for RWA, SDO, and generalized prejudice. Adjusting for their between-person stability, RWA and SDO predicted within-person increases in generalized prejudice. Results replicated when predicting (a) prejudice toward three specific minority groups (namely, Māori, Pacific Islanders, and Asians) and (b) anti-minority beliefs. These findings demonstrate that RWA and SDO are highly stable over 10 consecutive years and that they independently precede within-person annual increases in generalized prejudice and anti-minority beliefs.

Longitudinal evaluation of perceived stress and memory complaints in the Einstein Aging Study

ABSTRACT Background Perceived stress decreases memory performance and escalates the risk of developing cognitive impairment. Despite these concerning cognitive outcomes, longitudinal assessment of the relationship between perceived stress and memory complaints within a racially diverse sample remains scant. Method 391 cognitively intact older adults (M = 77.31, SD = 4.75) from the Einstein Aging Study were measured annually for up to nine years. Memory complaint items included self-reported frequency of forgetfulness, one-year memory decline, and 10-year memory decline. Multilevel models examined between-person and within-person associations between perceived stress and memory complaints while controlling for demographic differences and neuroticism. Results Strong between-person associations emerged such that older adults with generally higher perceived stress were more likely to report memory complaints, and vice versa. No significant concurrent within-person associations emerged. One lagged association emerged showing that within-person increases in perceived stress translated to a higher likelihood of reporting 10-year memory decline at the next annual screening. Conclusion Older adults with higher perceived stress are at risk for memory complaints over time. Further research into the relationship between perceived stress and memory complaints is necessary to augment our understanding of how risk factors of cognitive decline present throughout the aging process.

Beers with Peers: Childhood ADHD and Risk for Correlated Change in Perceived Peer and Personal Alcohol Use Across Young Adulthood.

ADHD poses risk for problematic alcohol use through adulthood. Perceived peer alcohol use, one of the strongest correlates of individuals' own alcohol use, is especially salient for adolescents with ADHD. The extent to which this risk extends into young adulthood is unknown, as well as how change in these constructs is associated throughout young adulthood. In the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study, 358 individuals with childhood-diagnosed ADHD and 239 without were prospectively followed from ages 18 to 29. Piecewise, bivariate longitudinal growth modeling was used to examine the change in both peer alcohol use and individuals' heavy drinking (binge-drinking frequency), their between-person associations, and differences by ADHD group. The addition of structured residuals probed within-person year-to-year change in peer and personal alcohol use and their prospective associations. Perceived peer alcohol use and individuals' heavy drinking frequencies changed together over time concurrently-from ages 18 to 21 (piece 1) and 21 to 29 (piece 2). Prospectively, individuals who increased the most in heavy drinking from ages 18 to 21 reported more friends using alcohol at age 29, regardless of ADHD history. Within-person increases in personal alcohol use likewise predicted increased perceived peer use the subsequent year within each age group (piece), regardless of ADHD history. However, while decreasing perceived peer use from ages 21 to 29 was related to more frequent heavy drinking at age 29 for those without ADHD, increasing perceived peer use from ages 18 to 21 predicted more frequent heavy drinking at age 29 for those with ADHD. Young adult heavy drinking changes in tandem with perceived peer alcohol use across individuals and predicts selection of alcohol-using peers from year to year within individuals, further into adulthood than previously documented. Findings suggest the centrality of relationships with alcohol-consuming friends in relation to one's heavy drinking, especially for young adults with ADHD histories, through the twenties.