High School Substance Use as a Predictor of College Attendance, Completion, and Dropout: A National Multicohort Longitudinal Study

National data from Monitoring the Future were used to examine patterns and predictors of college attendance. Samples of American 12th-grade students from 1977 to 2003 were followed for 7 years (modal ages 18-25; N = 10,020). College attendance and graduation patterns varied considerably over histori...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Youth & society 2016-05, Vol.48 (3), p.425-447
Main Authors: Patrick, Megan E., Schulenberg, John E., O’Malley, Patrick M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Adolescents
Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol use
Attendance
Attendance Patterns
Cigarettes
College Attendance
College Bound Students
College students
Drinking behavior
Dropout Rate
Dropouts
Dropping out
Drug abuse
Drug use
Graduation
High School Graduates
High School Seniors
Illegal
Intoxication
Longitudinal Studies
Marijuana
National Surveys
Predictor Variables
Questionnaires
Regression (Statistics)
School attendance
Smoking
Social background
Substance Abuse
Young adults
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Summary:National data from Monitoring the Future were used to examine patterns and predictors of college attendance. Samples of American 12th-grade students from 1977 to 2003 were followed for 7 years (modal ages 18-25; N = 10,020). College attendance and graduation patterns varied considerably over historical time and based on family background. Substance use during high school predicted a greater likelihood of never attending (for cigarettes, illegal drugs), of graduating from a 2-year rather than a 4-year school (for cigarettes), and of dropping out versus graduating from a 4-year school (for cigarettes, marijuana, and other illegal drugs). High school binge drinking predicted lower college dropout, but only in models also controlling for cigarette, marijuana, and other illicit drug use. This study provides a needed overview of adolescent predictors of patterns of college attendance among American young adults over the past three decades.
ISSN:0044-118X
1552-8499
DOI:10.1177/0044118X13508961