Maturing Out: Between- and Within-Persons Changes in Social-Network Drinking, Drinking Identity, and Hazardous Drinking Following College Graduation.

Many college students reduce hazardous drinking (HD) following graduation without treatment. Identifying cognitive mechanisms facilitating this "natural" reduction in HD during this transition is crucial. We evaluated drinking identity as a potential mechanism and tested whether within-person changes in one's social network's drinking were linked to within-person changes in drinking identity and subsequent within-person changes in HD. A sample of 422 undergraduates reporting HD was followed from six months before until two years after graduation. Their drinking, drinking identity, and social networks were assessed online. Within-person changes in drinking identity did not mediate the relationship between within-person changes in social network drinking and personal HD, though significant positive between-person associations among all constructs were found. Instead, there was some evidence that within-person changes in drinking identity followed changes in HD, suggesting that drinking identity may function as a marker versus mechanism of "natural" HD reduction during transition out of college.