The interrelationship between substance use and precocious transitions to adult statuses

This study focuses on the interrelationship between premature or precocious transitions to adult statuses and roles and the use of alcohol and drugs. Panel data from early adolescence to young adulthood for a sample of youth who were at high risk for serious delinquent behavior is used. The results indicate that use of alcohol and drugs in early adolescence increases the risk of dropping out of school, becoming pregnant or impregnating someone, becoming a teenage parent, and living independently from parents or guardians prematurely. In turn, experiencing these precocious transitions increases the risk of the use of alcohol and drugs when respondents are young adults. The importance of these findings to the life course perspective generally and to interactional theory specifically are discussed.