Research on alcohol-use disorders consistently shows problem drinking decreases as we age.<\/p>\n
Also called, \u201cmaturing out,\u201d\u009d these changes generally begin during young adulthood and are partially caused by the roles we take on as we become adults. Now, researchers collaborating between the University of Missouri and Arizona State University have found evidence that marriage can cause dramatic drinking reductions even among people with severe drinking problems. Scientists believe findings could help improve clinical efforts to help these people, inform public health policy changes and lead to more targeted interventions for young adult problem drinkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cA key conceptual framework psychologists use to explain maturing out and the \u201d\u02dcmarriage effect\u2019 is role-incompatibility theory,\u201d\u009d said Dr. Matthew Lee, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science at MU. \u201cThe theory suggests that if a person\u2019s existing behavioral pattern is conflicting with the demands of a new role, such as marriage, one way to resolve the incompatibility is to change behavior. We hypothesized that this incompatibility may be greater for more severe drinkers, so they\u2019ll need to make greater changes to their drinking to meet the role demands of marriage.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n