The Impact of High School Substance Use on Choice of Young Adult Living Environment and Career Direction

Abstract

The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is fraught with many important life decisions, including the choice of career direction and living arrangements. This study uses longitudinal data from 640 subjects to examine the impact of adolescent drug use on choice of life pursuit and living arrangements four years later as young adults. Use of nonprescription medication had no predictive power to understand young adult living situation or life pursuit, whereas adolescent cigarette use, alcohol use, cannabis use, and hard drug use all significantly influenced these young adult life situations. Results indicate that low levels of drug use are associated with parent and dormitory living arrangements and military and university career pursuits. On the other hand, high levels of adolescent drug use are predictive of marital or cohabitation living arrangements and none or full-time employment. These findings are interpreted to suggest that adolescent drug use is associated with precocious acquisition of adult roles (marriage, full-time jobs), perhaps to the ultimate detriment of the individual, since adequate adult maturity may not have occurred by this point in life.