title: Disaggregating the distal, proximal, and time-varying effects of parent alcoholism on children's internalizing symptoms.
abstract: We tested whether children show greater internalizing symptoms when their parents are actively abusing alcohol. In an integrative data analysis, we combined observations over ages 2 through 17 from two longitudinal studies of children of alcoholic parents and matched controls recruited from the community. Using a mixed modeling approach, we tested whether children showed elevated mother- and child-reported internalizing symptoms (a) at the same time that parents showed alcohol-related consequences (time-varying effects), (b) if parents showed greater alcohol-related consequences during the study period (proximal effects), and (c) if parents had a lifetime diagnosis of alcoholism that predated the study period (distal effects). No support for time-varying effects was found; proximal effects of mothers' alcohol-related consequences on child-reported internalizing symptoms were found and distal effects of mother and father alcoholism predicted greater internalizing symptoms among children of alcoholic parents. Implications for the time-embedded relations between parent alcoholism and children's internalizing symptoms are discussed.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, CB#3270 Davie Hall, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA. Hussong@unc.edu
authors: A M
authors: AM
authors: Hussong
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Cai
authors: P J
authors: PJ
authors: Curran
authors: D B
authors: DB
authors: Flora
authors: L A
authors: LA
authors: Chassin
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Zucker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005220:Fathers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D015588:Observer Variation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors