Objective: To test the premise that youth alcohol harm minimization policies (compared with abstinence policies) reduce later drinking and harmful consequences of alcohol use in young adulthood, we compared associations among adolescent alcohol use, young adult alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related harms in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States.
Method: Data came from the International Youth Development Study, a longitudinal, cross-national study of the development of substance use. State-representative samples of seventh-grade (age 13) students in Victoria (n = 984, 53% female, 90% White) and Washington (n = 961, 54% female, 73% White) were surveyed in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2014 (age 25). Participants self-reported alcohol initiation by age 15 and age 25 alcohol consumption (per the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). Path modeling tested associations among age 15 alcohol use, age 25 consumption, and alcohol-related harms at age 25; multiple group modeling tested the equivalence of parameter estimates across states.
Results: Age 25 alcohol consumption was lower in Washington versus Victoria and was associated with poor physical and mental health, partner conflict, substance use, criminal behavior, and violence exposure in both states equally. Living in Washington predicted lower levels of multiple alcohol-related harms at age 25 indirectly via lower age 25 alcohol consumption.
Conclusions: Young adults growing up in Victoria reported greater alcohol consumption in young adulthood, which was associated to the same degree with the harms measured regardless of alcohol policy context. Findings support state-level policies that promote alcohol abstinence in adolescence and reduced consumption in young adulthood.