The role of childhood stressors in the intergenerational transmission of alcohol use disorders.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined relations between childhood stressors (e.g., disrupted family rituals, embarrassment, neglect, abuse), family history of paternal alcoholism, and alcohol use disorders in late adolescence and early adulthood. Of particular interest was the extent to which stressor exposure mediated the association between paternal and offspring alcohol use disorders.


METHODS
A mixed-gender sample of 457 (238 female) participants, approximately half (N = 234) with a family history of paternal alcoholism, were assessed for alcohol use disorders and childhood stressors via clinical interviews.


RESULTS
Family history of paternal alcoholism was associated with every childhood stressor examined, often strongly. In addition, a number of childhood stressors (e.g., verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse) were related to an alcohol use disorder in late adolescence/early adulthood. However, only a portion of the effect of family history on a subsequent alcohol use disorder was accounted for by the childhood stressors we examined.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings indicate that self-reported childhood stressors are strongly related to a family history of alcoholism, but are only moderately and inconsistently related to the development of an alcohol use disorder. Moreover, they appear to, at best, only partially mediate the relation between family history of alcoholism and an alcohol use disorder.
Sher
K J
KJ
Department of Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia 65211, USA.
Gershuny
B S
BS
Peterson
L
L
Raskin
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment