Substance use escalation and substance use restraint among adolescent children of alcoholics.

Assessed the escalations in substance use over 3 yrs among 246 adolescent children of alcoholics (COAs) and 208 controls (aged 10.5–15.5 yrs). Older COAs showed the steepest escalations in drug use. Younger COAs whose fathers had continuing alcohol-related consequences showed the greatest escalations in alcohol use. Ss' beliefs about drinking restraint were related to their alcohol and drug use. Those whose alcoholic fathers had no continuing alcohol-related consequences showed the strongest relations between substance use and self-control reasons for limiting drinking, perceived risk for future drug problems, and seeing the negative effects of alcohol on someone else. These adolescents may be deterred from substance use escalations because of particular parental characteristics (e.g., mild forms of paternal alcoholism) or because of their beliefs about substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trajectories of Alcohol and Drug Use and Dependence From Adolescence to Adulthood: The Effects of Familial Alcoholism and Personality.

This study describes trajectories of substance use and dependence from adolescence to adulthood. Identified consumption groups include heavy drinking/heavy drug use, moderate drinking/experimental drug use, and light drinking/rare drug use. Dependence groups include alcohol only, drug only, and comorbid groups. The heavy drinking/heavy drug use group was at risk for alcohol and drug dependence and persistent dependence and showed more familial alcoholism, negative emotionality, and low constraint. The moderate drinking/experimental drug use group was at risk for alcohol dependence but not comorbid or persistent dependence and showed less negative emotionality and higher constraint. Familial alcoholism raised risk for alcohol and drug use and dependence in part because children from alcoholic families were more impulsive and lower in agreeableness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediating and Moderated Effects of Adolescent Behavioral Undercontrol and Parenting in the Prediction of Drug Use Disorders in Emerging Adulthood.

This study tested whether the effects of parental alcoholism on drug use disorders in emerging adulthood were mediated by behavioral undercontrol and parenting in adolescence and whether parenting buffered the relation between undercontrol and drug use disorders. Participants were 175 children of alcoholics and 190 matched control participants from an ongoing longitudinal study (L. Chassin, F. Rogosch, & M. Barrera, 1991). Results showed that undercontrol and parental discipline mediated 58% of the effect of parental alcoholism on drug use disorders. The relation between behavioral undercontrol and drug use disorders was further moderated by parental support. This effect was "protective but reactive" (S. S. Luthar, D. Cicchetti, & B. Becker, 2000); at high levels of behavioral undercontrol the protective effect of parental support was lost. Highly undercontrolled adolescents may have such a strong diathesis for drug use disorders that buffers may not have the same effect as in those with better control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The parent–adolescent relationship at puberty: Hispanic ethnicity and parent alcoholism as moderators.

This study tested Hispanic ethnicity and parent alcoholism as moderators of pubertal status effects on the parent-child relationship in a community sample of 421 boys and girls 11.5-16.5 years old. Ethnicity was a significant moderator: The direction of the puberty effect on parent support and parent-adolescent conflict differed for Hispanic (primarily Mexican American) and non-Hispanic White boys. Parent alcoholism did not moderate the effect of puberty, but there was more conflict and less support between children of alcoholics and their parents than between controls and their parents. Puberty effects on the parent-adolescent relationship were also found above and beyond the effects of chronological age. Future directions for research in this area are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Externalizing symptoms among children of alcoholic parents: Entry points for an antisocial pathway to alcoholism.

The authors examined heterogeneity in risk for externalizing symptoms in children of alcoholic parents, as it may inform the search for entry points into an antisocial pathway to alcoholism. That is, they tested whether the number of alcoholic parents in a family, the comorbid subtype of parental alcoholism, and the gender of the child predicted trajectories of externalizing symptoms over the early life course, as assessed in high-risk samples of children of alcoholic parents and matched controls. Through integrative analyses of 2 independent, longitudinal studies, they showed that children with either an antisocial alcoholic parent or 2 alcoholic parents were at greatest risk for externalizing symptoms. Moreover, children with a depressed alcoholic parent did not differ from those with an antisocial alcoholic parent in reported symptoms. These findings were generally consistent across mother, father, and adolescent reports of symptoms; child gender and child age (ages 2 through 17); and the 2 independent studies examined. Multialcoholic and comorbid-alcoholic families may thus convey a genetic susceptibility to dysregulation along with environments that both exacerbate this susceptibility and provide few supports to offset it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The natural history of cigarette smoking: Predicting young-adult smoking outcomes from adolescent smoking patterns.

Assessed the magnitude of risk that adolescent cigarette smoking carries for adult smoking, using longitudinal data from 4,156 Ss surveyed originally during Grades 6–12 and followed up after completion of high school. Even infrequent experimentation (i.e., smoking only a few cigarettes) in adolescence significantly raised the risk for adult smoking by a factor of 16 compared to nonsmoking adolescents. Relative risk was also increased by early onset of smoking and by a stable, uninterrupted course from experimentation to regular smoking. Data support the importance of primary prevention programs directed at adolescent populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do adolescent symptomatology and family environment vary over time with fluctuations in paternal alcohol impairment?

This study tested whether adolescent internalizing problems, externalizing problems, heavy alcohol use, fathers' parenting, and family conflict varied over time with fluctuations in fathers' alcohol impairment and also whether children of recovered alcoholic fathers differed from children of nonalcoholic fathers. Fathers and adolescent children (N?=?267 families) were interviewed in 3 annual assessments. Results showed that adolescent symptomatology and the family environment did not vary over time as a function of different trajectories of paternal alcohol impairment. However, children of recovered alcoholic fathers exhibited more symptomatology than did children of nonalcoholic fathers. Even though paternal alcoholism has remitted in these families, children of recovered alcoholic fathers might remain on a general higher risk trajectory relative to children of nonalcoholic fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telescoped trajectories from alcohol initiation to disorder in children of alcoholic parents.

The current study tested whether and why children of alcoholics (COAs) showed telescoped (adolescent) drinking initiation-to-disorder trajectories as compared with non-COAs. Using longitudinal data from a community-based sample, the authors confirmed through survival analyses that COAs progressed more quickly from initial adolescent alcohol use to the onset of disorder than do matched controls. Similar risks for telescoping were evident in COAs whose parents were actively symptomatic versus those whose parents had been previously diagnosed. Stronger telescoping effects were observed for COAs whose parents showed comorbidity for either depression or antisocial personality disorder. Both greater externalizing symptoms and more frequent, heavier drinking patterns at initiation failed to explain COAs' risk for telescoping, although externalizing symptoms were a unique predictor of telescoping. This risk for telescoping was also evident for drug disorders. These findings characterize a risky course of drinking in COAs and raise important questions concerning the underlying mechanisms and consequences of telescoping in COAs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal socialization of adolescent smoking: The intergenerational transmission of parenting and smoking.

A longitudinal multigenerational design was used to examine the intergenerational transmission of smoking and the correlated transmission of parental support and control. Whether maternal socialization of adolescent smoking (both general parenting practices and smoking-specific strategies) would predict adolescent smoking both directly and indirectly by affecting peer affiliations was tested. There was strong evidence for the intergenerational transmission of cigarette smoking and for the relation between peer smoking and adolescent smoking. Both general parenting practices and smoking-specific discussion and punishment were significantly related to adolescents' smoking, especially for adolescent-reported parenting. Support for the intergenerational transmission of parenting practices emerged only in mothers' reports of support. Results suggest expanding current peer-focused prevention efforts to include parental socialization strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between adolescent alcohol use and peer alcohol use: A longitudinal random coefficients model.

Longitudinal latent growth models were used to examine the relation between changes in adolescent alcohol use and changes in peer alcohol use over a 3-year period in a community-based sample of 363 Hispanic and Caucasian adolescents. Both adolescent alcohol use and peer alcohol use were characterized by positive linear growth over time. Not only were changes in adolescent alcohol use closely related to changes in peer alcohol use, but the initial status on peer alcohol use was predictive of later increases in adolescent alcohol use and the initial status on adolescent alcohol use was predictive of later increases in peer alcohol use. These results are inconsistent with models positing solely unidirectional effects between adolescent alcohol use and peer alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)