title: Family Functioning as a Mediator of Relations between Family History of Substance Use Disorder and Impulsivity.
abstract: Impulsivity is strongly related to the development of adolescent substance use. Therefore, understanding factors that influence impulsive characteristics is important for the development of prevention and intervention programs. Intervention and prevention programs focused on factors that influence impulsive characteristics are especially important for those at particularly high risk for the expression of impulsivity - those with a family history of substance use disorder. A factor of particular interest is family functioning.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine family functioning as a mediator of relations between having a family history of substance use disorder and impulsivity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included a majority Hispanic sample of pre-adolescent boys and girls (mean age 10.99,SD= .84) recruited from the community who did (FH+) and did not (FH-) have a family history of substance use disorder. FH status and the quality of family functioning were compared at the initial visit with impulsiveness assessed a year later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed FH+ children had worse family functioning; worse family functioning was related to higher levels of impulsivity, and higher levels of impulsivity among FH+ children were due to the influence of family functioning on levels of impulsivity. In other words, family functioning mediated relations between having a family history of substance use disorder and impulsivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that higher levels of impulsivity in FH+ children are due in part to worse family functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Stacy R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Carly K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Lake
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Mathias
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Nora E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX; Research Imaging Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Acheson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Donald M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Dougherty
keywords: family functioning; family history of substance use; impulsivity