Marriage Cuts Alcohol, Drug Use Feeling Of Responsibility For Others May Create New Need For Self-Control

Marriage for young adults is a good thing when it comes to cutting back on drinking and using drugs, according to a study released today.

The University of Michigan study of 33,000 young adults from 1976 to 1994 showed that young, unmarried adults usually increased their alcohol, marijuana and cocaine use when they left home, often to attend college.

Those same people, however, decreased their drug and alcohol use when they got engaged, married and had children, the study showed. Conversely, those who stayed single were a high proportion of drug and alcohol users.

“If you feel a responsibility to and for another person, then you are more apt to control your own behavior and play a role in controlling the partner’s behavior,” said Jerald Bachman, one of the study’s five authors at the Ann Arbor-based university’s Institute for Social Research.

People reporting marijuana use and heavy drinking dropped by one-third during a two-year period when they went from single to married, the study showed.

Couples who lived together but were not engaged or married showed no such drop in drug use. Bachman said such couples apparently had less commitment to each other, which meant fewer changes in their drug habits.

When people divorce, their drug use increases again - only to decline once again if they remarry. Bachman said divorced people are “more likely again to go to bars and parties.”

What Bachman calls the “marriage effect” brought about only a slight reduction in cigarette smoking habits.

Joining the military increased smoking and drinking, which Bachman attributed to the “norms and practices” of the military during the study. For instance, cigarettes were readily available at a low price at most military bases.

The data is based a questionnaire given to graduating high school seniors across the country. The participants were questioned every two years for the duration of the study, up to 14 years beyond graduation.

Bachman said he was hardly surprised by many of the results, such as young adults’ use of alcohol and drugs increasing when they leave home and have less structured leisure time with more parties and evenings out.

“The opportunities simply increase on one hand … and the restrictions decrease because they’re not so close to their parents,” he said.