Marriage, Divorce, and Alcohol Use in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Sibling-Comparison Study

Marital status is a robust predictor of alcohol consumption in young adulthood; however, the extent to which observed associations are due to socialization or selection processes is unclear. The current study examined associations between marital status and alcohol use, assessed in a sample of 5,150 young adults (ages 18–30) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. A longitudinal sibling-comparison design controlled for family-level environmental and genetic selection factors and for an individual’s premarital trajectory of alcohol use. Nested model comparisons tested whether gender and age moderated the effects of marriage and divorce. Controlling for selection factors, the transition into marriage predicted decreases in alcohol consumption, and this effect was consistent across gender and age. Divorce predicted increased consumption, particularly for men. Findings support a causal relationship between changes in marital status and alcohol use, rather than an association due to selection factors and suggest gender-specific changes in alcohol use following divorce.