title: Dichotic listening deficits and the prediction of substance use in young boys.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prior studies note relationships among verbal deficits, disruptive psychopathology, and substance use. The current study examines the relationship between verbal deficits, assessed through a dichotic listening test, and children's substance use.
  
  
  METHODS
  A series of 87 young boys was prospectively followed over a 1- to 2-year period. A prior study in these boys noted a cross-sectional relationship between disruptive psychopathology and deficits on a dichotic consonant-vowel listening test. The current study examines the predictive relationship between this language-related deficit at one study wave and substance use assessed during a follow-up study wave.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Reduced right ear accuracy, reflecting a deficit in left hemisphere processing ability, predicted substance use at follow-up. This association was independent of any other predictors, including cognitive or behavioral indices of substance use risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A lateralized deficit in verbal processing on a dichotic listening task predicts change in substance use by follow-up. Findings are consistent with other evidence linking early childhood lateralization abnormalities to development of disruptive psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY 10032, USA. Wassermg@child.cpmc.columbia.edu
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pine
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Workman
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Bruder
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*