Maturing Out: Between- and Within-Persons Changes in Social-Network Drinking, Drinking Identity, and Hazardous Drinking Following College Graduation

Many college students reduce hazardous drinking (HD) following graduation without treatment. Identifying cognitive mechanisms facilitating this “natural” reduction in HD during this transition is crucial. We evaluated drinking identity as a potential mechanism and tested whether within-persons changes in one’s social network’s drinking were linked to within-persons changes in drinking identity and subsequent within-persons changes in HD. A sample of 422 undergraduates reporting HD was followed from 6 months before graduation until 2 years after graduation. Their drinking, drinking identity, and social networks were assessed online. Within-persons changes in drinking identity did not mediate the relationship between within-persons changes in social-network drinking and personal HD, although significant positive between-persons associations among all constructs were found. Instead, there was some evidence that within-persons changes in drinking identity followed changes in HD, which suggests that drinking identity may function as a marker versus mechanism of “natural” HD reduction during transition out of college.