title: Familiality of addiction and its developmental mechanisms in girls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Drug use disorders (DUD) have been theorized to share sources of risk variation with other consummatory behaviors. We hypothesized that common mechanisms exist for familial risk for DUD, physiological maturation and nutritional status in girls. Whereas body fat content must exceed a threshold to enable adrenarche and gonadarche, nutritional status may also be a behavior risk indicator. Impaired psychological self-regulation associated with DUD risk may manifest in early overeating, which could in turn accelerate reproductive maturation, resulting in a greater likelihood of affiliation with deviant/older peers and drug use.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of families ascertained through the father who either had (N=95) or did not have (N=130) a DUD, and who had a 10-12 year old daughter and her mother available for study. Correlation, survival and path analyses of three consecutive assessments evaluated the relationships between parental DUD (number of affected parents, NAP), nutritional status (NS, subscapular skinfold measurements and body mass index), sexual maturation (Tanner stage), peer delinquency, and the daughter's lifetime DUD diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NAP was positively related to the girls' nutritional status. Longitudinal path analysis indicated mediation of the relationship between NAP and peer delinquency by sexual maturation. The relationship between NAP and sexual maturation is mediated by NS. The effect of sexual maturation at age ∼11 on the girls' DUD risk is mediated by peer delinquency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data are consistent with mediation of intergenerational transmission of DUD risk in females by elevated nutrition, leading to accelerated maturation, and affiliation with deviant peers.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA. Electronic address: galinag@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Galina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kirillova
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kirisci
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Sherri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mosovsky
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Ty
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ridenour
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tarter
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vanyukov
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010379:Peer Group; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D012932:Social Facilitation; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Drug dependence; Eating behavior; Females; Gender; Genetics; Obesity