title: Risks for early substance involvement associated with parental alcoholism and parental separation in an adolescent female cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We examined timing of substance involvement as a joint function of parental history of alcoholism and parental separation during childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were drawn from a large cohort of female like-sex twins [n=613 African Ancestry (AA), n=3550 European or other ancestry (EA)]. Cox proportional hazards regression was conducted predicting age at first use of alcohol, first alcohol intoxication, first use and regular use of cigarettes, and first use of cannabis and other illicit drugs from dummy variables coding for parental alcoholism and parental separation. Propensity score analysis was also conducted comparing intact and separated families by predicted probability of parental separation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In EA families, increased risk of substance involvement was found in both alcoholic and separated families, particularly through ages 10 or 14 years, with risk to offspring from alcoholic separated families further increased. In AA families, associations with parental alcoholism and parental separation were weak and with few exceptions statistically nonsignificant. While propensity score findings confirmed unique risks observed in EA families, intact and separated AA families were poorly matched on risk-factors presumed to predate parental separation, especially parental alcoholism, requiring cautious interpretation of AA survival-analytic findings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For offspring of European ancestry, parental separation predicts early substance involvement that is not explained by parental alcoholism nor associated family background characteristics. Additional research is needed to better characterize risks associated with parental separation in African American families.
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA; Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA. Electronic address: mwaldron@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Waldron
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Ellen L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.affiliation: Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Bucholz
authors.affiliation: Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lynskey
authors.affiliation: Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Carolyn E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Sartor
authors.affiliation: Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA; George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Alexis E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela A F
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.affiliation: Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Heath
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American
keywords: Adolescent substance use; Parental alcoholism; Parental separation or divorce