Alcohol abuse among adolescents can indirectly affect long-term physical health and life satisfaction

Alcohol abuse among adolescents can indirectly affect long-term physical health and life satisfaction

Teens who abuse alcohol may struggle more with alcohol problems, be in poorer health and feel less satisfied with their lives in their 20s and 30s, according to a study conducted by Rutgers and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, researchers defined adolescent alcohol abuse based on responses about drunkenness frequency, drinking frequency and alcohol problems at ages 16, 17 and 18.5. The outcomes they measured in early midlife included life satisfaction, physical symptoms, and self-rated health at age 34.

Using questionnaire data from 2,733 pairs of twins born in Finland in the late 1970s, the results remained consistent even after accounting for genetic and environmental factors common to twin siblings. The finding underscores the importance of preventive measures aimed at adolescents with alcohol abuse and mitigating health consequences later in adulthood, the researchers said.

“The longitudinal twin design is particularly useful in clarifying whether there are confounding family factors that predispose someone to both misuse alcohol in adolescence and later experience poorer physical health and well-being in early midlife,” said Jessica Salvatore, co-author of the study and associate professor and director of Genes, Environments and Neurodevelopment in Addictions Program at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “This is because the twin design allows us to compare exposures and outcomes over time within the same family.”

Unlike other studies of this type that have found that adolescent alcohol abuse has a direct impact on later life substance use and mental health outcomes, this study concluded that adolescent alcohol use may influence long-term physical health and life satisfaction indirectly rather than directly.

Although we observed these effects, they were modest, suggesting that adolescent alcohol abuse is not the only driver of later poor physical health and life dissatisfaction. Persistent alcohol-related problems could also play a role.

Jessica Salvatore, associate professor and director of the Genes, Environments and Neurodevelopment in Addictions Program at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

While previous studies of alcohol abuse in adolescents often examined health consequences in young adulthood, in this study, shortly after surveying teenagers, researchers examined health consequences over several decades and into early midlife.

“This study is unique in that it aims to examine whether poor physical health outcomes persist beyond age 20,” Salvatore said. “Our results suggest that alcohol consumption in adolescence and the resulting consequences become apparent at multiple developmental stages two decades later.”

The results indicate that alcohol consumption among teenagers has an indirect impact on physical health and life outcomes in midlife and highlight the need for prevention strategies for better long-term health. Understanding these long-term effects will advance understanding of early targeted interventions in adolescence that can prevent or mitigate long-term negative health outcomes and improve quality of life across the lifespan.

Source:

Rutgers University

Reference:

Pascale, A., et al. (2022) Examining the associations between adolescent alcohol abuse and later life health outcomes. Clinical and experimental research on alcoholism. doi.org/10.1111/acer.14917.

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