Chunk #34 — PART 2: EXAMPLES OF THE QUESTIONS ADDRESSED WITH COGA DATA — Trajectories of use—Initiation, onset, offset, and predictors of patterns across time
Other COGA analyses have explored heterogeneity in drinking patterns and predictors across time. For example, using latent class growth analysis, we identified four distinct subgroups of trajectories of alcohol intake, characterized by maximum drinks per occasion, across adolescence and young adulthood in this high‐risk sample: 64 consistent low drinking, low to high drinking; high to low drinking; and consistent high drinking. This pattern of identified subgroups is consistent with the literature of trajectories of alcohol use across adolescence and young adulthood. 83 , 84 Group membership was predicted by environmentally‐influenced factors (demographics and age of first drink) and genetically‐influenced characteristics (sensitivity to alcohol, externalizing behaviors, and personality), that operate together to influence patterns of alcohol use over time. In another study, our team found that after controlling for parent's knowledge of youth's whereabouts and youth's perceived substance use of school peers, close friend substance use was associated with a higher initial heavy drinking status and a greater rate of increase in heavy episodic drinking during the transition between adolescence and young adulthood. 85
