While odds ratios and parameter estimates suggested that any early elevation in internalizing problems is inversely associated with at least one measure of alcohol use (e.g., binge drinking, drinking without parental permission, etc.) at age 13.8, the statistical significance of these estimates is quite modest and is inconsistent across class and the four alcohol-related outcomes. To determine whether the use of a class variable rather than a continuous variable affected our ability to detect relationships, we also conducted analyses using individuals’ posterior probability of class membership rather than assigning each individual to one class, with comparable results. An explanation for the specific patterns of association observed across the different trajectories is not immediately obvious, but the trend is for elevated internalizing symptoms to be negatively associated with alcohol use. These analyses should be replicated in other samples to provide additional information about whether the age at which children experience internalizing symptoms is relevant to their early adolescent alcohol use, or whether any childhood internalizing problems, regardless of course or duration, are associated with a lower risk of alcohol use in early adolescence.
