Predicting Alcohol Dependence Symptoms by Young Adulthood: A Co-Twin Comparisons Study

Co-twin comparisons address familial confounding by controlling for genetic and environmental influences that twin siblings share. We applied the co-twin comparison design to investigate associations of adolescent factors with alcohol dependence (AD) symptoms. Participants were 1286 individuals (581 complete twin pairs; 42% monozygotic; and 54% female) from the FinnTwin12 study. Predictors included adolescent academic achievement, substance use, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, executive functioning, peer environment, physical health, relationship with parents, alcohol expectancies, life events, and pubertal development. The outcome was lifetime AD clinical criterion count, as measured in young adulthood. We examined associations of each adolescent domain with AD symptoms in individual-level and co-twin comparison analyses. In individual-level analyses, adolescents with higher levels of substance use, teacher-reported externalizing problems at age 12, externalizing problems at age 14, self- and co-twin-reported internalizing problems, peer deviance, and perceived difficulty of life events reported more symptoms of AD in young adulthood (ps < .044). Conversely, individuals with higher academic achievement, social adjustment, self-rated health, and parent–child relationship quality met fewer AD clinical criteria (ps < .024). Associations between adolescent substance use, teacher-reported externalizing problems, co-twin-reported internalizing problems, peer deviance, self-rated health, and AD symptoms were of a similar magnitude in co-twin comparisons. We replicated many well-known adolescent correlates of later alcohol problems, including academic achievement, substance use, externalizing and internalizing problems, self-rated health, and features of the peer environment and parent–child relationship. Furthermore, we demonstrate the utility of co-twin comparisons for understanding pathways to AD. Effect sizes corresponding to the associations between adolescent substance use, teacher-reported externalizing problems, co-twin-reported internalizing problems, peer deviance, and self-rated health were not significantly attenuated (p value threshold = .05) after controlling for genetic and environmental influences that twin siblings share, highlighting these factors as candidates for further research.

Early Adolescent Predictors of Violent Behavior: Child and Contextual Risk, and Moderation by Rejecting Parenting

The current study explored early adolescent child-level predictors (physical aggression, impulsivity, empathy) and contextual-level predictors (peer deviance, neighborhood dangerousness) of violent and nonviolent antisocial behavior (AB) in late adolescence. Additionally, we tested the moderating role of rejecting parenting on these associations based on the importance of parent-child relationships in early adolescence and documented bidirectional associations between parenting and our predictor variables. Participants ( N = 272) came from the Pitt Mother and Child Project, a longitudinal study of high-risk boys. Higher levels of early adolescent physical aggression significantly predicted late adolescent engagement in both nonviolent and violent crimes. Peer deviance, impulsivity, and neighborhood dangerousness were also associated with later juvenile AB. Rejecting parenting moderated several of these associations. Results support the predictive validity of several early adolescent child- and contextual-level variables—particularly early adolescent aggression—for subsequent engagement in both violent and nonviolent AB.

Multilevel effects of alcohol among early adolescents in an urban school district

Aims: To examine how interpersonal interactions within and between the social networks formed by teachers, parents, students, and others shape the unique culture of the school, which in turn, reciprocally exerts a determining influence on each individual in the network. Design: Cross-sectional study exploring whether factors associated with alcohol use at the individual level also exert influence on the culture of a school. Setting: Twelve middle schools within an urban school district in the Midwestern United States. Participants: Seventh grade students (N = 1,620). Measures: Lifetime alcohol use behaviors; mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in their child’s education; and peer deviance. Findings: The findings of this study suggest that as parents’ involvement in education increases, and as peer deviance decreases, there are direct benefits to the child, and a protective effect for other children within the school when, in the aggregate, parental involvement increases and peer deviance decreases. Conclusions: The effect of interventions to improve parent involvement and reduce peer deviance, with examinations at the individual-level and school-level, warrant future study.

Pathways Between Alcohol Use and Internalizing Symptoms Across Emerging Adulthood: Examination of Gender Differences in Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Processes

Pathways between alcohol use and internalizing symptoms, controlling for comorbid externalizing symptoms, within a sample of 593 ethnically diverse emerging adults (age 20–22; 49% female) collected between 2013 and 2018 in the United States were examined. Peer deviance and emotional disengagement were used to examine mediation between internalizing symptoms and alcohol use. Results demonstrate that alcohol and internalizing pathways varied across gender. For males, no significant direct paths between internalizing symptoms and alcohol use were observed. However, there was an indirect path between age 20 alcohol use and reduced age 22 internalizing symptoms, via age 21 peer deviance. For females, significant bidirectional links between alcohol use and internalizing symptoms were observed from age 21 to 22. Additionally, an indirect path between age 20 internalizing symptoms and increased age 22 alcohol use via age 21 emotional disengagement was observed. Results suggest unique targets for intervention for males and females.

Facilitating Versus Inhibiting the Transmission of Drug Abuse from High-Risk Parents to Their Children: A Swedish National Study

We seek to identify factors that facilitate or inhibit transmission of drug abuse (DA) from high-risk parents to their children. In 44,250 offspring of these parents, ascertained from a Swedish national sample for having a mother and/or father with DA, we explored, using Cox models, how the prevalence of DA was predicted by potentially malleable risk factors in these high-risk parents, their spouses and the rearing environment they provided. Analyses of offspring of discordant high-risk siblings and offspring of discordant sibling-in-laws and step-parents aided causal inference. Risk for DA in the children was associated with high-risk and married-in parental externalizing psychopathology, a range of other features of these parents (e.g., low education and receipt of welfare), and aspects of the rearing environment (e.g., neighborhood deprivation and number of nearby drug dealers). Offspring of discordant high-risk siblings, siblings-in-laws and step-parents suggested that nearly all these associations were partly causal. A multivariate analysis utilizing offspring of discordant high-risk siblings identified the six most significant potentially malleable risk factors for offspring DA: (1) criminal behavior (CB) in married-in parent, (2) community peer deviance, (3) broken family, (4) DA in high-risk parent, (5) CB in high-risk parent and (6) number of family moves. Children in the lowest decile of risk had a 50% reduction in their DA prevalence, similar to that seen in the general population. We conclude that transmission of DA from high-risk parents to children partly results from a range of potentially malleable risk factors that could serve as foci for intervention.