Linking Substance Use and Problem Behavior Across Three Generations

This study examined patterns of between-generation continuity in substance use from generation 1 (G1) parents to generation 2 (G2) adolescents and from G2 adult substance use and G1 substance use to generation 3 (G3) problem behavior in childhood. Structural equation modeling of prospective, longitudinal data from 808 participants, their parents, and their children showed low levels of G1 to G2 cross-generational continuity in the general tendency to use drugs. This effect was fully mediated by G2 early adolescent behavior problems. Drug-specific residual effects were observed across generations for cigarette smoking. Once established in adolescence, substance use in G2 showed stability over time. G2 substance use at age 27 significantly predicted G3 problem behavior. G1 substance use also was related to G3 problem behavior indirectly. These findings highlight the importance of interrupting intergenerational cycles of substance use and problem behavior.     

Intergenerational and Partner Influences on Fathers’ Negative Discipline

Recent studies have found significant but relatively modest associations in parenting across generations, suggesting additional influences on parenting beyond experiences in the family of origin. The present prospective, cross-generational study of at-risk men (Oregon Youth Study) focuses on fathers' negative discipline practices with their 2- to 3-year-old children. The theoretical model is based on a dynamic developmental systems approach to problematic family functioning, which points to the importance of developmental systems, including family risk context and key influential social interactional systems, and emphasizes influence that is directly pertinent to the outcome of interest. Path modeling indicated that the men's poor and harsh discipline practices were predicted by partners' problem behavior (substance use and antisocial behavior) and negative discipline practices, as well as by poor discipline experienced in the family of origin; men's own problem behavior, ages at which they became fathers, and family socioeconomic status were controlled. Findings indicate the importance of focusing on influence dynamics across parents.     

Relation of parental support and control to adolescents' externalizing symptomatology and substance use: A longitudinal examination of curvilinear effects

Past research has generated inconsistent findings regarding the relation of parental control and support to adolescent problem behaviors. Using two waves of data collected 1 year apart, the current study examined the influence of parental control and support on adolescents' externalizing symptoms, alcohol use, and illicit substance use. A sample of adolescents and their parents (@#@ N =454) was studied, within which approximately half of the adolescents were at high risk because of parental alcoholism. Multipleregression analyses of crosssectional data showed a negative quadratic relation between parental control and adolescent externalizing symptomatology, and between parental control and adolescent illicit substance use. Parental control had a negative linear relation to adolescent alcohol use. Parental support showed a negative quadratic relation to adolescent illicit substance use, and negative linear relations to adolescent alcohol use and externalizing symptoms. Although longitudinally adjusted contemporaneous results were consistent with crosssectional findings, parental support and control were prospectively related only to adolescent alcohol use. The quadratic relations suggest that adolescents who receive either extreme of parental support or control are at risk for problem behaviors.     

Personality disorders associated with substance use among American and Greek adolescents

A study was conducted to investigate the association between personality disorder (PD) symptomatology and substance use among adolescents in community settings in the United States and Greece. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders and the Adolescent Health Behavior Survey were completed by 37 male and 84 female adolescents, ages 15 to 18, who were recruited from an adolescent medical clinic and schools in and near New York City (n = 71) and Heraklion, Greece (n = 50). Results indicated that: (1) adolescents with PDs reported more frequent alcohol consumption during the past year than did those without PDs; (2) adolescents with borderline PD reported more cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol consumption than did those without borderline PD; (3) adolescents with antisocial PD symptomatology reported greater alcohol, cigarette, and illicit drug use than did those without antisocial PD symptomatology; and (4) although more American (30%) than Greek (4%) adolescents reported illicit substance use, differences were not observed in the prevalence of alcohol use, cigarette use, or personality disorders as a function of nationality.     

Parent–Child Communication's Attenuating Effects on Mexican Early Adolescents' Perceived Discrimination,Depressive Symptoms,and Substance Use

Utilizing general strain theory, we hypothesized that perceived discrimination would be positively associated with depressive symptoms, which in turn, would be associated with alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Second, we hypothesized that frequency of mother–child and father–child communication against substance use would attenuate the hypothesized effects. Longitudinal survey data were collected from 247 Mexican‐heritage 6th‐ to 8th‐grade students. As hypothesized, perceived discrimination was positively associated with depressive symptoms, which, in turn, were positively associated with alcohol use and marginally related to marijuana use. Regarding moderation, for Mexican‐heritage early‐stage adolescents with high frequencies of mother–child or father–child communication, depressive symptoms were not significantly related to alcohol and marijuana use, although associations were significant for adolescents low in either type of communication.     

College drinking behaviors: mediational links between parenting styles, parental bonds, depression, and alcohol problems.

Mediational links between parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive), parental bond (positive, negative), depression, alcohol use and abuse were tested. A 2-group, multiple-indicator, multiple-cause structural equation model with 441 (216 female, 225 male) college students was examined. In general, a poor parental bond with one's father was highly predictive of depression, a well-known predictor of alcohol abuse and related problems for both genders. In contrast, a positive parental bond with one's father significantly mediated the positive effects of authoritative fathering on depression, which then decreased alcohol use problems for both genders. For women, a negative parental bond with one's father significantly mediated the effect of having an authoritarian father on depression, which increased alcohol use problems. These findings suggest that parental influences on pathways to alcohol abuse through depression (primarily through fathers for both genders) are distinct from pathways stemming from poor impulse control (with influences primarily from the same-sex parents for both genders).     

Religion,Self Control,and Substance Use

Previous research has examined a number of mechanisms through which religion might have an indirect influence on substance use. One potential intervening mechanism that has received little empirical attention is self control. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) we (1) examine the association between religion and self control, (2) determine if self control mediates the effect of religiosity on substance use, and (3) determine if the effect of self control on substance use varies depending on adolescents’ religiosity. The results suggest that religious youth exhibit higher levels of self control. Also, self control partially mediates the effect of adolescents’ religiosity on marijuana use and drinking. The only evidence we find for an interaction between self control and religiosity suggests self control has a moderately greater effect on alcohol use among those of low, rather than medium or high, religiosity.     

Are work stressors related to employee substance use? The importance of temporal context assessments of alcohol and illicit drug use

In this study, the author explored the relations of 2 work stressors (work overload and job insecurity) to employee alcohol use and illicit drug use. The primary goal was to explore the importance of temporal context (before work, during the workday, and after work) in the assessment of substance use compared with context-free (overall) assessments. Data were collected from a national sample of U.S. workers (N = 2,790) who took part in a broad cross-sectional survey on workplace health and safety. Consistent with past research, the results fail to support a relation between work stressors and overall measures of alcohol and illicit drug use. However, the results support the relation of work stressors to alcohol and illicit drug use before work, during the workday, and after work. These results provide support for both the stress-induced substance use and stress response dampening propositions of the tension-reduction hypothesis. When exploring the work environment as a potential cause of employee substance use, these results underscore the importance of measures that assess alcohol and illicit drug use in terms of their temporal relation to the workday.     

Personality traits and the development of nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug disorders: prospective links from adolescence to young adulthood

The personality traits constraint (CN) and negative emotionality (NE) have been more (CN) or less (NE) consistently associated with alcoholism. The authors examined the association of personality at age 17 with timing of onset and with prospective prediction of nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug disorders 3 years later in a twin sample (569 females; 432 males). Earlier onset of alcohol and drug disorders (by age 17) was related to significantly lower CN compared with later onsets (by age 20); high NE was related to either onset. NE, as well as CN, uniquely predicted new onsets of all 3 types of substance use disorders by follow-up, with preexisting substance disorders taken into account. Personality traits confer generalized risk for developing any substance disorder, though some traits are more strongly linked with some substance disorders than with others.     

Personality scores and licit and illicit substance use

The effects of personality structure on subsequent substance use was examined. Data were collected from 841 men from Zürich questioned twice at the age of 19 and 22 about drug use and personality. Multiple regression and canonical correlation analysis methodology indicated a significant relationship between personality and subsequent substance use. Illicit drug consumption was positively related to the personality scale Depressiveness and negatively to Dominance and Excitability, cigarette consumption correlated with Nervousness and Sociability and alcohol consumption was related to Nervousness, Depressiveness and Sociability. The association of illicit drug use with Emotional Lability decreased when cigarette and alcohol consumption was included in the analysis. The cannabis users described themselves less neurotic than the consumers of alcohol and cigarettes.     

Illicit drug use and risky sexual behavior among African American and Puerto Rican urban adolescents: the longitudinal links

The authors assessed whether (a) early illicit drug use predicted later risky sexual activity, (b) early risky sex predicted later illicit drug use, and (c) common factors affected both risky sexual behavior and illicit drug use. African American and Puerto Rican youth completed questionnaires in their classrooms at Time 1 (T1) and face-to-face interviews with the authors in their homes 5 years later at Time 2 (T2). Logistic regression analyses showed the association between T1 illicit drug use and T2 risky sexual activity and between T1 risky sexual behavior and T2 illicit drug use. With few exceptions, T1 illicit drug use was associated with all of the T2 risky sexual behaviors. After controlling for demographic factors, the authors found that multiple sex partners at T1 was not related to illicit drug use at T2. Condom use at T1 was related to illicit drug use at T2, whereas sexually transmitted diseases and adolescent pregnancy were not related to this drug use. The findings indicated that assessments of and treatments for substance use should focus on the risky sexual behaviors that seem to accompany illicit drug use.     

Childhood predictors of adolescent substance use in a longitudinal study of children with ADHD

Children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 142) were prospectively monitored into adolescence (13-18 years old) to evaluate their risk for elevated substance use relative to same-aged adolescents without ADHD (n = 100). Probands reported higher levels of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use than did controls. Group differences were apparent for alcohol symptom scores but not for alcohol or marijuana disorder diagnoses. Within probands, severity of childhood inattention symptoms predicted multiple substance use outcomes: childhood oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) symptoms predicted illicit drug use and CD symptoms. Persistence of ADHD and adolescent CD were each associated with elevated substance use behaviors relative to controls. Further study of the mediating mechanisms that explain risk for early substance use and abuse in children with ADHD is warranted.     

Childhood conduct problems,attention deficit behaviors,and adolescent alcohol,tobacco, and illicit drug use

The relationships between conduct problems and attention deficit behaviors at age 8 years and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs at 15 years were studied in a birth cohort of over 900 New Zealand children. The analysis showed that while early conduct problems were significantly associated with later substance use there were no significant associations between early attention deficit behaviors and later substance use once the correlations between conduct problems and attention deficit behaviors were taken into account. These associations persisted after control for a range of potentially confounding covariates. Children who showed tendencies to conduct problems at age 8 consumed 1.5 to 1.9 times more alcohol and had rates of alcohol-related problems, daily cigarette smoking, and illicit drug use that were 1.9 to 2.0 times higher than children with low conduct problem scores. It is concluded that attention deficit behaviors, in the absence of conduct problems, are not associated with later substance use. However, even when due allowance is made for social and contextual factors associated with both early conduct problems and later substance use, early conduct problems are a risk factor for later substance use.This research was funded by grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the National Child Health Research foundation.     

Psychiatric Disorders Associated with Substance Use Among Children and Adolescents: Findings from the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study

The relationships between specific quantities and frequencies of alcohol, cigarette, and illicit substance use and substance use (SUD) and other psychiatric disorders were investigated among 1,285 randomly selected children and adolescents, aged 9 to 18, and their parents, from the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study. Logistic regressions indicated that daily cigarette smoking, weekly alcohol consumption, and any illicit substance use in the past year were each independently associated with an elevated likelihood of diagnosis with SUD and other psychiatric disorders (anxiety, mood, or disruptive behavior disorders), controlling for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, family income). The associations between the use of specific substances and specific psychiatric disorders varied as a function of gender.     

The development of children's intentions to use alcohol: direct and indirect effects of parent alcohol use and parenting behaviors

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of parent alcohol use and parenting behavior on the development of children's intentions to use alcohol in Grades 1 through 8. The authors hypothesized that the effect of parent alcohol use on children's intention to use alcohol would be mediated through parenting behavior, specifically monitoring/supervision, positive parenting, and inconsistent discipline. Using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling (LGM), the authors tested 3 models examining the effect of the development of parent alcohol use on the development of children's intentions to use alcohol, as mediated by the development of each of the 3 parenting behaviors. Multiple group analyses were used to explore gender differences. The effect of growth in parent alcohol use on growth in children's intentions was mediated only by parent monitoring/supervision and was significant only for girls. The effect of inconsistent discipline was directly related to growth in intentions for both boys and girls. Although parent alcohol use was related to less positive parenting, positive parenting was unrelated to children's intentions to use alcohol.     

Emotional health predictors of substance use initiation during middle school

This study aimed to evaluate whether emotional health factors, including anxiety and depression, stress, and social support, are associated with earlier youth initiation of alcohol and illicit substances during middle school (from the sixth to the eighth grade). Data for this study were from the Developmental Pathways Project, a longitudinal study of 521 youth sampled from the Seattle Public Schools. Discrete time survival analyses were used to assess the effects of depression, anxiety, stress, and support on initiation of substance use, measured every 6 months at five time points between sixth and eighth grade. Youth who had initiated prior to sixth grade had significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms. In multivariate survival analyses controlling for child race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, and accounting for conduct problems, youth who reported higher levels of separation anxiety/panic symptoms were at decreased risk for early alcohol initiation. Children with higher levels of perceived teacher support had a significantly lower risk of alcohol initiation during early follow-up periods. Recent stressful life events in Grade 6 were associated with significantly greater risk of initiating an illicit substance by Grade 8. The current findings highlight the role of stress in the initiation of illicit substance use and suggest that teacher support is associated with lower risk for very early alcohol use. Future research examining anxiety as a predictor of substance use should distinguish between subtypes of anxiety.     

Physical Abuse Victimization and Violence in the Transition to Adulthood: The Mediating Role of Alcohol and Drug Use

In the present paper we examine the association between physical abuse victimization in childhood and violent criminal behavior in the transition from adolescence to adulthood (TAA). Of central interest is whether that association is indirect, through the impact of abuse victimization on alcohol and drug use. We employ a statistical test for indirect effects, using a design that also applies Savage and Wozniak’s (2016) “differential etiology of violence” standard. The data suggest that the effect of physical abuse on violence in the TAA is partially indirect, mediated by alcohol and drug use. A control for nonviolent offending is applied to build confidence that the dynamic between abuse victimization and substance use is a differential predictor of violence.     

Personality characteristics as a function of frequency and type of substance use

Problematic and unhealthy personality characteristics have typically been the focus of researchers interested in the possible causes of substance use/abuse. Recent research has begun to identify differences between individuals based upon frequency of use, with indications that moderate users may have "healthier" characteristics than either abstainers or regular users. The present study was conducted in a rural setting and compared personality structure (based on the California Psychological Inventory) among three groups of college students: abstainers, experimenters, and regular users. The comparisons were conducted as a function of all illicit substance use (excluding alcohol) and for alcohol use only. Minimal support was obtained for the above hypothesis when comparing the three groups on illicit substance use. When comparing the three groups on alcohol use only, support for the theory was identified, with fewer differences found between the experimenters and the abstainers than between the experimenters and the regular users. It is suggested that rural use of psychoactive substances may be more limited to alcohol due to easier availability and less stigma. Data supporting the "healthier" personality structure of moderate users of alcohol would thus be more likely in rural settings even though such use would still be "risky" behavior given its illegality for individuals under age 21. The need for adaptations to current treatment approaches is suggested.     

Negative Emotions and Alcohol Use Initiation in High-Risk Boys: The Moderating Effect of Good Inhibitory Control

Studies on the relation between negative affect and later alcohol use have provided mixed results. Because definitions of negative affect often include diverse emotions, researchers have begun to dismantle this higher-order construct in an attempt to explain these inconsistent findings. More recent evidence also indicates that good inhibitory control may moderate the relation between negative emotions and alcohol use. The current longitudinal investigation examined the independent relation between three components of negative affect (i.e., depressed mood, fear, and anger) and alcohol use initiation in a sample of aggressive boys. The moderating effect of good inhibitory control was also examined. Results indicated that increased anger and decreased fearfulness are associated with an increased risk for alcohol use initiation only for boys with moderate to low levels of inhibitory control. However, depressed mood predicted alcohol use initiation for boys with good inhibitory control. The potential implications for substance use prevention efforts are discussed.     

The Impact of Experience with the Aged upon the Time Perspective of Young Adults

With the use of questionnaire returns from 214 male and 286 female upper-year high school students, a model of adolescent drug use is proposed. The model hypothesizes that the parents' child-rearing practices produce within the child a personality which shapes his attitudes toward the use of drugs, which in turn affect the child's use of marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco. The personality dimension in the model is Authoritarianism. The model proved more successful in predicting illicit than licit drug use. Further, love on the part of the mother and positive control on the part of the father were the most salient dimensions within the model with regard to child-rearing practices.