Relationship Role Transitions and Problem Alcohol Use in Emerging Adulthood

Normative reductions in problematic drinking behavior throughout emerging adulthood are often described as “maturing out.” Theories of maturing out most often implicate developmental role changes as a primary determinant of this process—particularly relationship roles. Previous work has commonly focused on macro-level role changes (e.g., marriage, parenthood) and larger timescales, examining roles that change from year to year. Smaller, shorter term changes (i.e., incremental changes) in roles that likely evolve during young adulthood seldom have been tested. Accordingly, the current study examined short-term, temporally proximal associations among incremental relationship transitions and problematic drinking during the transition out of college. We found that incrementally deeper relationship involvement prospectively predicted problematic drinking reductions during this period and that this did not differ based on graduation status. Findings support the importance of incremental, microlevel changes in relationship involvement for drinking behavior in emerging adulthood.