Using data from the Mobile Youth Survey, a multiple cohort longitudinal study of adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods, we have reduced gaps in the literature by identifying trajectories of

The gap

Consensus across the literature

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Measurement invariance of the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire across college status, race, and childhood SES in a diverse community sample. (2021) · doi

  OBJECTIVE: The Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (YAACQ) was designed to measure the various domains of alcohol-related problems experienced by emerging adults (EAs), but has primarily been used in college samples and it remains unclear whether the psychometric properties of the YAACQ function similarly in racially and economically diverse populations.

  Keywords: alcohol yaacq objective young adult consequences questionnaire designed measure various domains related problems experienced emerging
• Patterns of alcohol use among adolescents in India based on National Family Health Survey data (2026) · doi

  The NFHS data do not distinguish between ‘ever use’ and ‘current use’ of alcohol and therefore cannot separate experimental use from regular consumption. While this limit detailed behavioural interpretation, the binary measure remains appropriate for our study aims. Our focus is not on the long-term health impacts of alcohol use but on iden- tifying early initiation, for which even a single reported instance of use is policy relevant. Any affirmative response indicates exposure in adolescence, which is precisely the con- cern our study seeks to examine. Furthermore, as the survey includes only adolescents aged 15–19 years, it may underestimate initiation occurring at younger ages. Although NFHS employs a complex survey design with sample weights to ensure representative- ness, sample weights were not used in this analysis due to analytic constraints and a lack of clear documentation on subgroup weighting. This could result in bias in absolute prevalence estimates, potentially under- or overestimating the true population rate. The direction and magnitude of this bias are difficult to determine precisely but are likely to have less impact on relative comparisons across states and subgroups, which are the main focus of our analysis. Instead, a multistage sampling structure has been accounted for through cluster adjustments. The self-reported nature of the data may introduce biases, including underreporting due to social desirability. Additionally, all inherent lim- itations of secondary data analysis apply.

  Keywords: nfhs alcohol focus initiation reported precisely survey sample weights bias distinguish ever current cannot separate
• Trajectories of Adolescent Alcohol Use by Gender and Early Initiation Status (2013) · doi

  Using data from the Mobile Youth Survey, a multiple cohort longitudinal study of adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods, we have reduced gaps in the literature by identifying trajectories of alcohol use for males and females separately as a function of early initiation of alcohol use.

  Keywords: alcohol using mobile youth survey multiple cohort longitudinal adolescents living impoverished neighborhoods reduced gaps literature