A number of long-term follow-up investigations have examined the precursors of older age alcohol involvement (see Schuckit et al., 2018, for a detailed review). In these studies, samples range considerably both in size and type, including registry-based population samples (Kendler et al., 2016), former students (Gonçalves et al., 2017; Vaillant, 2003), community residents (Moos et al., 2010; Vaillant, 2003), civil servants (Knott et al., 2018), and clinic outpatients (Holahan et al, 2017). A variety of alcohol-related topics has been addressed, including, for example, mortality (Haver et al., 2009; Holahan et al, 2017; Kendler, 2016; Lundin et al., 2015), the interplay between social resources and high-risk consumption (Moos et al., 2010), trajectories/stability of consumption, abuse, and dependence (Jacob et al., 2009; Knott et al., 2018; Vaillant, 2003), and the association between drinking level, drinking pattern, and number of alcohol problems in later years (Holahan et al., 2017).
