ArticleAlcohol, clinical & experimental research2025
Historical trends in young adult solitary alcohol use by age and sex from 1977 to 2022.
Article in Alcohol, clinical & experimental research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Historical trends in young adult solitary alcohol use by age and sex from 1977 to 2022.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSolitary alcohol use among young adults is a risky drinking behavior associated with concurrent and future alcohol use disorder (AUD) and negative psychosocial outcomes. However, data on its prevalence and historical trends in the general population are limited. We examined historical trends in solitary alcohol use among US young adults (aged 19-30) by age and sex over a 46-year period.
methodsData were from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) Panel study collected between 1977 and 2022. The sample included 12,851 participants (51.6% female) who reported past-year alcohol use and completed surveys at ages 19/20, 21/22, 23/24, 25/26, 27/28, and 29/30. Solitary alcohol use was assessed by self-report of drinking alone in the past year. Joinpoint regression analyses examined historical trends in the prevalence of solitary alcohol use by age and sex.
resultsApproximately 40% of those who used alcohol in the past year reported engaging in solitary alcohol use at least once in the past year. Across all age groups, the prevalence of past-year solitary alcohol use initially decreased and then increased over time. Significant joinpoints indicated shifts in trends beginning in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, with increases more pronounced among females.
conclusionsThe prevalence of solitary alcohol use among US young adults has increased in recent decades, to levels on par with what was observed in the late 1970s. Particular increases among females since late 1990s/early 2000s have narrowed the traditional sex gap in this risky drinking behavior. Given the association of solitary drinking with concurrent and future alcohol problems, these findings highlight the need for continued monitoring of solitary alcohol use among young adults, especially females.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.