Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T17:35:00.483Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Lifespan Developmental Perspectives on Natural Mechanisms of Cessation of Risky Alcohol Use and Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder

from Part I - Micro Level

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

By
Matthew R. Lee ,
Yihong Zhao ,
Thomas Britton ,
Jenna Saviano ,
Kaan Kideys ,
Yimei Li ,
Colin Boulter ,
Emery Frick  and
Kenneth J. Sher
Edited by
Jalie A. Tucker  and
Katie Witkiewitz
Jalie A. Tucker
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Katie Witkiewitz
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews lifespan developmental perspectives on cessation of risky alcohol use and recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD). The chapter discusses AUD assessment with an emphasis on lifespan developmental issues; the epidemiology of risky alcohol use with an emphasis on age differences; and influences on risky use, AUD, and recovery in different periods of the lifespan. Adolescent risky drinking can be understood as developing through three etiologic-risk pathways. Risky drinking is especially normative at 18-23 years old and thus especially likely to reflect a temporary, context-driven “developmental disturbance,” which has implications for subsequent recovery. Drinking-related rates decline in young adulthood, and apparent mechanisms of this “maturing out” are discussed (e.g., personality maturation, marriage, parenthood). Regarding midlife and older adulthood, the limited extant literature is reviewed and indicates the need for more lifespan developmental research attending to these ages and examining differences in how recovery occurs across the lifespan.

Keywords

risky alcohol usealcohol use disorderrecoverylifespan developmentyoung adulthoodmidlifeolder adulthoodmaturing outnatural recovery
Type
Chapter
Information
Dynamic Pathways to Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder
Meaning and Methods
 , pp. 77 - 94
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.).Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596Google Scholar
Arnett, J. (2014). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199795574.013.9Google Scholar
Ashenhurst, J. R., & Fromme, K. (2018). Alcohol use and consequences across developmental transitions during college and beyond. In Fitzgerald, H. E., & Puttler, L. I. (Eds.), Alcohol use disorders: A developmental science approach to etiology. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org//oso/9780190676001.003.0015Google Scholar
Bachman, J. G., O’Malley, P. M., Schulenberg, J. E., Johnston, L. D., Bryant, A. L., & Merline, A. C. (2002). The decline of substance use in young adulthood: Changes in social activities, roles, and beliefs. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410606013Google Scholar
Barry, K. L., & Blow, F. C. (2016). Alcohol over the lifespan: Focus on older adults. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 38(1), 115–120. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27159818/Google Scholar
Boness, C. L., Lane, S. P., & Sher, K. J. (2019). Not all alcohol use disorder criteria are equally severe: Toward severity grading of individual criteria in college drinkers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 33(1), 35–49. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000443Google Scholar
Breslow, R. L., Castle, I. P., Chen, C. M., & Graubard, B. I. (2017). Trends in alcohol consumption among older Americans: National Health Interview Surveys, 1997–2014. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 41(5), 978–986. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13365Google Scholar
Caetano, R., & Babor, T. F. (2006). Diagnosis of alcohol dependence in epidemiological surveys: An epidemic of youthful alcohol dependence or a case of measurement error? Addiction, 101, 111–114. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01599.xGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., & Roberts, B. W. (1999). Personality change and continuity across the life course. In Pervin, L. A., & John, O. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality theory and research (pp. 300–326). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Chassin, L., Haller, M., Lee, M. R., Handley, E., Bountress, K., & Beltran, I. (2016). Familial factors influencing offspring substance use and dependence. In Sher, K. J. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of substance use and substance use disorders (pp. 449–482). Oxford University Press. http://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199381678.013.008Google Scholar
Chassin, L., Sher, K. J., Hussong, A., & Curran, P. (2013). The developmental psychopathology of alcohol use and alcohol disorders: Research achievements and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 25(402), 1567. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579413000771Google Scholar
Chung, T., & Jackson, K. M. (2019). Adolescent alcohol use. In Zucker, R. A. & Brown, S. (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of adolescent substance abuse. Oxford University Press. http://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735662.013.007Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Handley, E. D. (2019). Child maltreatment and the development of substance use and disorder. Neurobiology of Stress, 10, 100144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2018.100144Google Scholar
Colliver, J. D., Compton, W. M., Gfroerer, J. C., & Condon, T. (2006). Projecting drug use among aging baby boomers in 2020. Annals of epidemiology, 16(4), 257–265.Google Scholar
Erikson, E.H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Furstenberg, F. F. Jr (2010). On a new schedule: Transitions to adulthood and family change. The Future of Children, 20(1), 67–87.Google Scholar
Gotham, H. J., Sher, K. J., & Wood, P. K. (2003). Alcohol involvement and developmental task completion during young adulthood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64(1), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2003.64.32Google Scholar
Gottfredson, M., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Grant, B. F., Stinson, F. S., Dawson, D. A., Chou, S. P., Dufour, M. C., Compton, W., Pickering, R. P., & Kaplan, K. (2004). Prevalence and co-occurrence of substance use disorders and independent mood and anxiety disorders: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61(8), 807–816. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.61.8.807Google Scholar
Grucza, R. A., Sher, K. J., Kerr, W. C., Krauss, M. J., Lui, C. K., McDowell, Y. E., Hartz, S., Virdi, G., & Bierut, L. J. (2018). Trends in adult alcohol use and binge drinking in the early twenty-first century United States: A meta-analysis of six national survey series. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42(10), 1939–1950. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13859Google Scholar
Gu, Q., Dillon, C. F., & Burt, V. L. (2010). Prescription drug use continues to increase: US prescription drug data for 2007–2008. NCHS data brief, (42), 1–8.Google Scholar
Hussong, A. M., Shadur, J., Burns, A. R., Stein, G., Jones, D., Solis, J., & McKee, L. G. (2019). An early emerging internalizing pathway to substance use and disorder. In Zucker, R. A. & Brown, S. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of adolescent substance abuse (pp. 319–343). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735662.013.015Google Scholar
Jackson, K., & Sartor, C. (2016). The natural course of substance use and dependence. In Sher, K. J. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of substance use and substance use disorders (pp. 67–131). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199381678.013.007Google Scholar
Klingemann, H. K., & Sobell, L. C. (2007). Promoting self-change from addictive behaviors: Practical implications for policy, prevention, and treatment. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71287-1Google Scholar
Kuerbis, A., Moore, A. A., Sacco, P., & Zanjani, F. (Eds.). (2017). Alcohol and aging: Clinical and public health perspectives. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47233-1Google Scholar
Lane, S. P., Steinley, D., & Sher, K. J. (2016). Meta-analysis of DSM alcohol use disorder criteria severities: Structural consistency is only ‘skin deep’. Psychological Medicine, 46(8), 1769–1784. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291716000404CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, M. R., Boness, C. L., McDowell, Y. E., Vergés, A., Steinley, D. L., & Sher, K. J. (2018). Desistance and severity of alcohol use disorder: A lifespan-developmental investigation. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 90–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617736852Google Scholar
Lee, M. R., Chassin, L., & MacKinnon, D. (2015). Role transitions and young adult maturing out of heavy drinking: Evidence for larger effects of marriage among more severe pre-marriage problem drinkers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 39 (6), 1064–1074. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.12715CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, M. R., Ellingson, J. M., & Sher, K. J. (2015). Integrating social-contextual and intrapersonal mechanisms of “maturing out”: Joint influences of familial role transitions and personality maturation on problem drinking reductions. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 39(9), 1775–1787. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.12816Google Scholar
Lee, M. R., & Sher, K. J. (2018). “Maturing out” of binge and problem drinking. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 39(1), 31–42.Google Scholar
Littlefield, A.K., Sher, K. J., & Wood, P. K. (2009). Is “maturing out” of problematic alcohol involvement related to personality change? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(2), 360–374. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015125Google Scholar
Littlefield, A. K., Sher, K. J., & Wood, P. K. (2010a). A personality-based description of maturing out of alcohol problems: Extension with a five-factor model and robustness to modeling challenges. Addictive Behaviors, 35(11), 948–954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.06.008Google Scholar
Littlefield, A.K., Sher, K. J., & Wood, P. K. (2010b). Do changes in drinking motives mediate the relation between personality change and “maturing out” of problem drinking? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(1), 93–105. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017512Google Scholar
Luna, B., Tervo-Clemmens, B., & Calabro, F. J. (2020). Considerations when characterizing adolescent neurocognitive development. Biological Psychiatry, 89(2), 96–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.04.026Google Scholar
MacKillop, J., & Ray, L. A. (2018). The etiology of addiction: A contemporary biopsychosocial approach. In MacKillop, J., Kenna, G. A., Leggio, L., & Ray, L. A. (Eds.), Integrating psychological and pharmacological treatments for addictive disorders: An evidence-based guide (pp. 32–53). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Morean, M. E., & Corbin, W. R. (2010). Subjective response to alcohol: A critical review of the literature. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34(3), 385–395. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2009.01103.xGoogle Scholar
Moore, A. A., Giuli, L., Gould, R., Hu, P., Zhou, K., Reuben, D., Greendale, G., & Karlamangla, A. (2006). Alcohol use, comorbidity, and mortality. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 54(5), 757–762. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2006.00728.xGoogle Scholar
Moos, R. H., Brennan, P. L., Schutte, K. K., & Moos, B. S. (2010). Older adults’ health and late-life drinking patterns: A 20-year perspective. Aging and Mental Health, 14(1), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607860902918264Google Scholar
Ortman, J. M., Velkoff, V. A., & Hogan, H. (2014). An aging nation: The older population in the United States. United States Census Bureau.Google Scholar
Patrick, M. E., Terry-McElrath, Y. M., Lanza, S. T., Jager, J., Schulenberg, J. E., & O’Malley, P. M. (2019). Shifting age of peak binge drinking prevalence: Historical changes in normative trajectories among young adults aged 18 to 30. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 43(2), 287–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13933CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schuckit, M. A., Smith, T. L., Trim, R. S., Allen, R. C., Fukukura, T., Knight, E. E., Cesario, B. A., & Kreikebaum, S. A. (2011). A prospective evaluation of how a low level of response to alcohol predicts later heavy drinking and alcohol problems. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 37(6), 479–486. https://doi.org/10.3109/00952990.2011.598590Google Scholar
Schulenberg, J., Maslowsky, J., & Jager, J. (2018). Substance use and abuse during adolescence and the transition to adulthood are developmental phenomena: Conceptual and empirical considerations. In Fitzgerald, H. E., & Puttler, L. I. (Eds.), Alcohol use disorders: A developmental science approach to etiology. (pp. 199–222). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190676001.003.0012Google Scholar
Schulte, M. T., & Hser, Y. I. (2014). Substance use and associated health conditions throughout the lifespan. Public Health Reviews, 35(2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391702Google Scholar
Schutte, K. K., Moos, R. H., & Brennan, P. L. (2006). Predictors of untreated remission from late-life drinking problems. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67(3), 354–362. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2006.67.354Google Scholar
Settersten, R. A. Jr, & Ray, B. (2010). What’s going on with young people today? The long and twisting path to adulthood. The Future of Children, 20(1), 19–41. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.0.0044Google Scholar
Sher, K. J., & Gotham, H. J. (1999). Pathological alcohol involvement: A developmental disorder of young adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 11(04), 933–956. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579499002394Google Scholar
Sher, K. J., Littlefield, A., & Lee, M. (2018). Personality processes related to the development and resolution of alcohol use disorders. In Fitzgerald, H. E. & Puttler, L. I. (Eds.), Alcohol use disorders: A developmental science approach to etiology (pp. 285–304). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190492243.003.0018Google Scholar
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (SAMHSA) (2019). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. PEP19–5068, NSDUH Series H-54). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Google Scholar
Tucker, J. A., Roth, D. L., Vignolo, M. J., & Westfall, A. O. (2009). A behavioral economic reward index predicts drinking resolutions: Moderation revisited and compared with other outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(2), 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014968Google Scholar
Vergés, A., Jackson, K. M., Bucholz, K. K., Grant, J. D., Trull, T. J., Wood, P. K., & Sher, K. J. (2012). Deconstructing the age-prevalence curve of alcohol dependence: Why “maturing out” is only a small piece of the puzzle. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121(2), 511–523. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026027.Google Scholar
Vergés, A., Lee, M. R., Martin, C. S., Trull, T. J., Martens, M. P., Wood, P. K., & Sher, K. J. (2021). Not all symptoms of alcohol dependence are developmentally equivalent: Implications for the false-positives problem. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 35(4), 444–457. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000723Google Scholar
Volkow, N. D., & Koob, G. (2015). Brain disease model of addiction: Why is it so controversial? The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(8), 677–679. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215–0366(15)00236-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Votaw, V. R., Pearson, M. R., Stein, E., & Witkiewitz, K. (2020). The addictions neuroclinical assessment negative emotionality domain among treatment‐seekers with alcohol use disorder: Construct validity and measurement invariance. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 44(3), 679–688. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.14283Google Scholar
Watson, A. L., & Sher, K. J. (1998). Resolution of alcohol problems without treatment: Methodological issues and future directions of natural recovery research. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 5 (1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2850.1998.tb00131.xGoogle Scholar
White, H. R., Labouvie, E. W., & Papadaratsakis, V. (2005). Changes in substance use during the transition to adulthood: A comparison of college students and their noncollege age peers. Journal of Drug Issues, 35(2), 281–306. https://doi.org/10.1177/002204260503500204Google Scholar
Widom, C. S., White, H. R., Czaja, S. J., & Marmorstein, N. R. (2007). Long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on alcohol use and excessive drinking in middle adulthood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68(3), 317–326. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2007.68.317Google Scholar
Windle, M. (2020). Sex differences in substance use from adolescence to young adulthood: Tests of increases in emergent adulthood and maturing out in later young adulthood. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 207, 107813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107813Google Scholar
Witkiewitz, K., Montes, K. S., Schwebel, F. J., & Tucker, J. A. (2020). What is recovery? Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 40(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.35946/arcr.v40.3.01Google Scholar
Zucker, R. A., Donovan, J. E., Masten, A. S., Mattson, M. E., & Moss, H. B. (2008). Early developmental processes and the continuity of risk for underage drinking and problem drinking. Pediatrics, 121(Suppl. 4), S252–S272. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2007-2243BGoogle Scholar
Zucker, R. A., Hicks, B. M., & Heitzeg, M. M. (2016). Alcohol use and the alcohol use disorders over the life course: A cross-level developmental review. In Cicchetti, D. (Ed.), Developmental psychopathology: Maladaptation and psychopathology (pp. 793–832). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119125556.devpsy318Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×