The current paper uses data from a longitudinal study of a high-risk sample to test therelation between adolescent alcohol and drug use and later young adult autonomy, positiveactivity involvement, and perceived competence. Participants (children of alcoholics anddemographically matched controls) were assessed in three annual interviews in adolescence(mean age: 12.7 years at Time 1) and then again 5–7 years later, in young adulthood(median age: 20 years). Path analyses and latent growth curve models tested the effects ofadolescent substance use on both self-reported and collateral-reported outcomes, controlling forcorrelated risk factors (parental alcoholism, adolescent psychopathology, and parental support),preexisting levels of the outcome, and concurrent young adult substance use. Results showed thatadolescent drug use had a significant, unique negative effect on later autonomy and perceivedcompetence. Alcohol use effects were more complex. Adolescent heavy drinking was associatedwith less positive adult outcomes, but more so in collateral reports than in self-reportedoutcomes. Moreover, young adult heavy drinking was either uncorrelated with or positivelycorrelated with higher levels of perceived competence, suggesting different developmentalsignificance of alcohol use in adolescence than in young adulthood.