Underage hazardous drinking and failure to graduate from high school: Results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health)

BACKGROUND: Failure to complete high school has substantial economic and social consequences for both the individual and society. Cross-sectional data has provided mixed support for the relation between alcohol use and dropping out. No studies have explored the effect of binge drinking on dropping out using nationally-representative longitudinal data. METHODS: The study sample included 4,786 adolescents (Grades 7-12) who completed Waves I (1994-1995) and III (2001) of the Add Health survey. Dropping out of high school was determined by Wave III as completing 12 or fewer years of school and not receiving a diploma, or receiving a GED. Binge drinking was defined as past month frequency of consuming 5+ drinks/occasion at Wave I. Logistic regression estimated odds ratios (ORs) of dropping out by binge drinking and several categories of control variables at Wave I, including other substance use, parent-child relationship, and sociodemographic, psychosocial, and school-related variables. RESULTS: Approximately 17% of the sample dropped out of high school. Binge drinking was positively associated with dropping out in subsequent years. Weekly binge drinkers were more likely to drop out than non-binge drinkers (34.8% versus 14.8%; OR=3.08, 95%CI=[2.37-4.01]). This relationship remained significant in the logistic regression model (OR=1.75, 95%CI=[1.10-2.78]) controlling for other related variables. Other significant predictors included school-related variables, family socioeconomic status, and smoking. CONCLUSION: Hazardous drinking almost doubles the risk for subsequent failure to complete high school even after taking into account a multitude of confounding factors. Future studies should investigate potential mediators that might reveal the mechanism underlying this relationship.