The Unique Effects of Parental Alcohol and Affective Disorders, Parenting, and Parental Negative Affect on Adolescent Maladjustment

Using a high-risk community sample, multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for mothers (n = 416) and fathers (n = 346) to test the unique, prospective influence of parental negative affect on adolescent maladjustment (internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and negative emotionality) 2 years later over and above parental alcohol and affective disorders, major disruption in the family environment, and parenting. Adolescent sex was tested as a moderator. Results indicated that maternal (but not paternal) negative affect had a unique, prospective effect on adolescent internalizing symptoms in girls and negative emotionality in both sexes but did not predict adolescent externalizing symptoms. Findings demonstrate that mothers’ negative affect may have unique effects on adolescent adjustment that are separate from the effects of clinically significant parental psychopathology, parenting, and disruption in the family environment

The Relation of Adolescent Substance Use to Young Adult Autonomy, Positive Activity Involvement, and Perceived Competence

The current paper uses data from a longitudinal study of a high-risk sample to test the relation between adolescent alcohol and drug use and later young adult autonomy, positive activity involvement, and perceived competence. Participants (children of alcoholics and demographically 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 of adolescent substance use on both selfreported and collateral-reported outcomes, controlling for correlated risk factors (parental alcoholism, adolescent psychopathology, and parental support), preexisting levels of the outcome, and concurrent young adult substance use. Results showed that adolescent drug use had a significant, unique negative effect on later autonomy and perceived competence. Alcohol use effects were more complex. Adolescent heavy drinking was associated with less positive adult outcomes, but more so in collateral reports than in self-reported outcomes. Moreover, young adult heavy drinking was either uncorrelated with or positively correlated with higher levels of perceived competence, suggesting different developmental significance of alcohol use in adolescence than in young adulthood

Intergenerational continuity in high-conflict family environments

Abstract In the current study, we examined continuity in conflict across generations and explored potential mediators and moderators that could explain this continuity. We followed 246 targets from adolescence to adulthood and examined family conflict as reported by multiple reporters in targets' family of origin and current families. Results showed that conflict in the current family was strongly correlated with that of the family of origin in women but not in men. Continuity in family conflict across generations was mediated by patterns of elevated adolescent externalizing behavior in members of the second generation (G2). In addition, analyses revealed an interaction between both G2 partners' externalizing behavior such that if one partner in the G2 family demonstrated high levels of externalizing behavior, elevated levels of family conflict resulted. Potential explanations and implications of these findings are considered

Modeling Trajectories of Adolescent-Perceived Family Conflict: Effects of Marital Dissatisfaction and Parental Alcoholism

We evaluated the effects of marital dissatisfaction on adolescent-perceived conflict in 435 families with and without a parental history of alcoholism. On average, family conflict decreased linearly as adolescents aged. Families with an alcoholic parent demonstrated higher adolescent-reported family conflict and this effect was partially mediated by higher mother- and father-reported marital dissatisfaction. Families with higher marital dissatisfaction had greater conflict when adolescents were young (based on fathers' marital dissatisfaction) and as they aged (based on mother's marital dissatisfaction). Years in which mothers reported higher marital dissatisfaction than usual coincided with years in which adolescents reported greater family conflict. Results indicate that marital dissatisfaction has both within and between-family effects on adolescent perceptions of conflict

Stress and coping among children of alcoholic parents through the young adult transition

The transition to young adulthood is both a time when risky health behaviors such as substance misuse peak and a time of opportunity for growth and development through the acquisition of adult roles. In this transition, coping styles include responses to the stressors and opportunities associated with the emergence of adulthood. The extent to which such coping styles are skillfully employed in part determines adjustment into adulthood. The current study used a high-risk, longitudinal design to examine the development of coping styles over adolescence, continuity in these coping styles from adolescence to adulthood, the impact of coping on adult stress and substance misuse, the ability of coping to buffer effects of stress on substance use, and differences in coping between at-risk youth (i.e., children of alcoholics [COAs]) and their peers. A sample of 340 adolescents completed four assessments over ages 11–23. We used latent trajectory models to examine interindividual and intraindividual change in coping over time. Evidence for both change and continuity in the development of coping from adolescence to adulthood was found, although adolescent coping had limited impact on stress and substance use in adulthood. Support was also found for complex stress-buffering and stress-exacerbating effects of coping on the relations between major life events and adult drug use and between stress associated with the new roles of adulthood and heavy alcohol use. Implications of these findings for development and adjustment in the transition to adulthood are discussed

Analyzing mediation models with multiple informants: A new approach and its application in clinical psychology

Testing mediation models is critical for identifying potential variables that need to be targeted to effectively change one or more outcome variables. In addition, it is now common practice for clinicians to use multiple informant (MI) data in studies of statistical mediation. By coupling the use of MI data with statistical mediation analysis, clinical researchers can combine the benefits of both techniques. Integrating the information from MIs into a statistical mediation model creates various methodological and practical challenges. The authors review prior methodological approaches to MI mediation analysis in clinical research and propose a new latent variable approach that overcomes some limitations of prior approaches. An application of the new approach to mother, father, and child reports of impulsivity, frustration tolerance, and externalizing problems (N = 454) is presented. The results showed that frustration tolerance mediated the relationship between impulsivity and externalizing problems. The new approach allows for a more comprehensive and effective use of MI data when testing mediation models

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

The current study tested whether and why COAs show telescoped (adolescent) drinking initiation-to-disorder trajectories as compared to non-COAs. Using longitudinal data from a community-based sample, survival analyses confirmed that COAs progress 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 were 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

The developmental psychopathology of alcohol use and alcohol disorders: Research achievements and future directions

The last 25 years have seen significant advances in our conceptualization of alcohol use and alcohol use disorders within a developmental framework, along with advances in our empirical understanding that have been potentiated by advances in quantitative methods. These include advances in understanding the heterogeneity of trajectories of alcohol outcomes; new insights about early childhood antecedents, and adolescence and emerging adulthood as important developmental periods for alcohol outcomes; a more nuanced understanding of the influences of developmental transitions, and their timing and contexts; a greater appreciation for the importance of considering multiple levels of analysis (including an increasing number of genetically informative studies); a continuing focus on studying multiple pathways underlying alcohol outcomes; and an increasing focus on studying the effects of alcohol exposure on future development. The current paper reviews these advances and suggests directions for future study

Testing multiple levels of influence in the intergenerational transmission of alcohol disorders from a developmental perspective: The example of alcohol use promoting peers and μ-opioid receptor M1 variation

This study examined the interplay between the influence of peers who promote alcohol use and μ-opioid receptor M1 (OPRM1) genetic variation in the intergenerational transmission of alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms while separating the “traitlike” components of AUD symptoms from their age-specific manifestations at three ages from emerging adulthood (17–23 years) to adulthood (29–40 years). The results for males were consistent with genetically influenced peer selection mechanisms as mediators of parent alcoholism effects. Male children of alcoholics were less likely to be carriers of the G allele in single nucleotide polymorphism A118G (rs1799971), and those who were homozygous for the A allele were more likely to affiliate with alcohol use promoting peers who increased the risk for AUD symptoms at all ages. There was evidence for women of an interaction between OPRM1 variation and peer affiliations but only at the earliest age band. Peer influences had stronger effects among women who were G-carriers. These results illustrate the complex ways in which the interplay between influences at multiple levels of analysis can underlie the intergenerational transmission of alcohol disorders as well as the importance of considering age and gender differences in these pathways

The Increasing Diversity and Complexity of Family Structures for Adolescents

The structure of adolescents’ families, and thus parental forms, in the United States, have become more heterogeneous and fluid over the past several decades. These changes are due to increases in never‐married, single parents, divorce, cohabitation, same‐sex parenting, multipartnered fertility, and co‐residence with grandparents. We document current diversity and complexity in adolescents’ families as important context for rethinking future parenting theory and research. We also discuss how understandings of adolescents’ families are somewhat limited by current methods used to measure characteristics of families. We recommend social network and profile‐based methods as alternatives to capturing key dimensions of family structure and processes. Understanding the diversity of households and families in which adolescents are raised can improve theory and research on parenting