title: Some childhood antecedents of drug and alcohol abuse.
abstract: Unsatisfactory intrafamilial relationships and child-rearing practices have frequently been implicated as prime determinants of personalities that are susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse. Five thousand forty-four US Army soldiers were surveyed by anonymous questionnaires. The reported occurrence of a variety of activities, events and behaviors in childhood among drug and alcohol abusers were compared to non users. Childhood antecedents that were associated with non-use of illegal drugs and which showed as much as a 20% difference in reported occurrence between abusers and non-users of illegal drugs were: spanking, church attendance, first alcoholic drink after 15 years, and perceived "happy" parental marriage. These associations were found uithin white and non-white groups and in subjects with divorced or separated parents. There was no antecedent that showed as much as a 20% difference in reported occurrence between alcohol abusers and non-users.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics*; D000662:Amphetamines; D002188:Cannabis; D002668:Child Rearing; D005860:Germany, West; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008890:Military Psychiatry; D009892:Opium; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology
chemical_list: D000662:Amphetamines; D009892:Opium