Our findings must be interpreted with regard to several limitations. First, all data collected was via self-report, which can raise concerns about the validity of the results. In particular, study participants may be reporting on events that happened many years earlier, which introduces the possibility of recall bias. Recall bias threatens the validity of inferences drawn from observational studies, and is an especially vexing problem in cross-sectional studies, when the exact timing of events under study may be unknown. We attempted to mitigate this risk by restricting our sample to persons less than 45 years of age (Keyes et al., 2010; Wagner and Anthony, 2007). While this strategy may have reduced the potential for recall bias, our results are less generalizable to older populations and may not have exhausted the threat of recall bias entirely. Second, reporting bias may also be a factor particularly when participants are asked to report on potentially stigmatizing behaviors such as underage drinking or excessive alcohol use. However, there is no reason to suspect that recall or reporting bias varies by race or ethnicity and
