Alcohol and illicit drug dependence among parents: associations with offspring externalizing disorders
- 15 April 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Psychological Medicine
- Vol. 39 (1), 149-155
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291708003085
Abstract
Previous research indicates that alcohol and drug dependence constitute aspects of a general vulnerability to externalizing disorders that accounts for much of the parent-offspring resemblance for these and related disorders. This study examined how adolescent offspring risk for externalizing psychopathology varies with respect to parental alcoholism and illicit drug dependence. Data from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, a community-based investigation of adolescents (age 17 years, n=1252) and their parents, were used. Lifetime diagnoses of alcohol and drug dependence (among both parents and offspring) and offspring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, and nicotine dependence were assessed via structured interviews. Parental alcohol dependence and parental drug dependence were similarly associated with increased risk for nearly all offspring disorders, with offspring of alcohol and drug-dependent parents having approximately 2–3 times the odds for developing a disorder by late adolescence compared to low-risk offspring. Compared to parental dependence on other illicit drugs, parental cannabis dependence was associated with weaker increased risk for offspring externalizing disorders. Both parental alcohol and drug dependence are independently associated with an increased risk for a broad range of externalizing psychopathology among late-adolescent offspring.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Identification of Genes Influencing a Spectrum of Externalizing PsychopathologyCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, 2007
- Minnesota Center for Twin and Family ResearchTwin Research and Human Genetics, 2006
- The Relationship Between Parental Psychopathology and Adolescent PsychopathologyJournal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 2005
- Cross-generational effects on gender differences in psychoactive drug abuse and dependenceDrug and Alcohol Dependence, 2004
- Psychopathology Risk Transmission in Children of Parents With Substance Use DisordersAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 2004
- Developmental trajectories of disruptive behavior problems among sons of alcoholics: Effects of parent psychopathology, family conflict, and child undercontrol.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2003
- Behavioral Symptoms and Psychiatric Diagnoses Among 162 Children in Nonalcoholic or Alcoholic FamiliesAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 2000
- Adult children of alcoholics: Drinking, psychiatric, and psychosocial status.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 1999
- A longitudinal study of children of alcoholics: Predicting young adult substance use disorders, anxiety, and depression.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1999
- Parental Substance Abuse and Its Relationship to Severe Aggression and Antisocial Behavior in YouthThe American Journal on Addictions, 1993