Prior Delinquency and Depression Differentially Predict Conditional Associations Between Discrete Patterns of Adolescent Religiosity and Adult Alcohol Use Patterns

Prior research has demonstrated that adolescent delinquency and depression are prospectively related to adult alcohol use and that adolescent religiosity may influence these relationships. However, such associations have not been investigated using person-centered approaches that provide nuanced explorations of these constructs. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examined whether adolescent delinquency and depression differentiated typologies of adult alcohol users and whether these relationships varied across religiosity profiles. Three typologies of self-identified Christian adolescents and 4 types of adult alcohol users were identified via latent profile analysis. Delinquency and depression were related to increased likelihood of membership in heavy drinking or problematic alcohol use profiles, but this relationship was most evident among those likely to be involved in religious practices. These results demonstrate the importance of person-centered approaches in characterizing the influences of internalizing and externalizing behaviors on subsequent patterns of alcohol use.