Psychosocial characteristics at age 10; differentiating between adult alcohol use pathways: a prospective longitudinal study.

The objective of the present study was to relate psychosocial characteristics at age 10 to alcohol use pathways in adulthood up to age 36 using data from the male cohort (n = 122) of a longitudinal study. Psychosocial characteristics at age 10 were measured along five dimensions: parental socioeconomic status, intelligence, ability to concentrate, anxiousness, and school achievement. Subjects whose hazardous alcohol habits were limited to adolescence/early adulthood had parents with a significantly lower socioeconomic status compared to persistently hazardous alcohol consumers. In addition, two psychosocial configurations at age 10 were typically linked to future alcohol problems. One pathway included motivational difficulties in school and the second a general adjustment problem. The discussion relates these configurations to existing typologies and theories of development.