SATURDAY, March 16, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Wonder why you're now watching "Saturday Night Live" at home instead of having your own live Saturday night out?
It's called growing up, says a University of Michigan psychologist.
In a study of more than 38,000 young adults that spanned from 1975 to 2000, researchers found that going to parties and hanging out in bars on a regular basis dropped to almost nothing by the time people reached their 30s. About 35 percent of 18-year-olds partied more than once a week, while only 3 percent of people in their early 30s could match the feat.
However, the reason isn't that you become an old fuddy-duddy.
"The general drift toward less partying isn't due to increased age. It has to do with the particular stages of young adulthood -- marriage and parenthood," says the psychologist, and lead author, Jerald G. Bachman. "Those who stayed single tended to go out to parties more, but those who married showed a big drop in party-going."
However, dating, both among single people and among married couples, took up some of the slack, Bachman found.
Roughly 44 percent of 18-year-old men went on at least one date a week, and 51 percent of women did the same. By the time they were in their 30s, 30 percent of the men and 25 percent of the women were still going on dates at least once a week.
Parenthood put a definite damper on going out, Bachman found, with parents going out 50 percent less than they did before the little darlings came along.
"Having kids definitely puts a crimp in evenings out. It's not hard to fill in the blanks. Babysitters are hard to come by, and are expensive," he says.
Not to mention how kids sap your energy.
"It's amazing how all the sleep deprivation that comes with kids will make you less interested in partying," says Jean L. Potuchek, a sociology professor at Pennslyvania's Gettysburg College.
Bachman's findings came in studying the relationship between social activities and substance abuse. His work, called The Decline of Substance Use in Young Adulthood: Changes in Social Activities, Roles and Beliefs was published this winter by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
The good news is that when people stop partying as much, the abuse of alcohol and drugs also declines.
"Leaving home, at age 18, is associated with heavy drinking because of the new freedom young people have," Bachman says. However, as people begin to pair off, they party less and their alcohol and drug use declines.
"By and large, they find more grownup things to than going out and partying," he says.
Smoking, however, while higher among high school seniors and young adults who go to parties frequently, doesn't significantly drop as people marry.
"Pregnancy makes a little dent in smoking, but by the time people are in their late 20s, they're going to smoke whether they go out or not," he says.
Bachman's book, co-authored by five University of Michigan social scientists, was based on data from a study conducted every spring since 1975 among high school students at private and public schools around the country. The study also involved follow-up surveys of the students every two years on their living and working arrangements, as well as their drug and alcohol use and social activities.
What To Do
For more information about the University of Michigan study, you can visit the University of Michigan.
For good advice about how to prevent drug and alcohol abuse by your children, you can go to U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources.
