A high-risk community study of paternal alcohol consumption and adolescents' psychosocial characteristics

The association between maternal and paternal substance use and child substance use, internalizing and externalizing problems: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIMS

There is substantial evidence showing an association between parental substance use and child substance use and/or mental health problems. Most research focuses upon maternal substance use, with the influence of paternal substance use often being overlooked. We aimed to investigate the differential effects of maternal and paternal substance use upon children aged 0-18 years.

METHODS

We used systematic review methods to identify observational studies examining the association between either maternal or paternal substance use and child substance use and/or mental health problems. The odds ratio (OR) effect measure was used, for ease of computation. We used a random-effects model with the inverse variance method to meta-analyse the findings from eligible studies.

RESULTS

We included 17 unique studies with a total of 47 374 child participants. Maternal and paternal substance use were both associated with increased odds of child any drug use [OR = 2.09; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.53, 2.86; n = 12 349 participants; three studies and OR = 2.86; 95% CI = 1.25, 6.54; n = 5692 participants; three studies, respectively], child alcohol problem use (OR = 2.16; 95% CI = 1.73, 2.71; n = 7339 participants; four studies and OR = 1.70; 95% CI = 1.36, 2.12; n = 14 219 participants; six studies), child externalizing problems (OR = 1.81; 95% CI = 1.01, 3.22; n = 1748 participants; three studies and OR = 1.60; 95% CI = 1.18, 2.17; n = 2508 participants; six studies) and child internalizing problems (OR = 1.60; 95% CI = 1.25, 2.06; n = 1748 participants; three studies and OR = 1.42; 95% CI = 1.12, 1.81; n = 2248 participants; five studies). Child any alcohol use was associated with maternal substance use only (OR = 2.26; 95% CI = 1.08, 4.70; n = 28 691 participants; five studies).

CONCLUSIONS

Both maternal and paternal substance use are associated with child substance use and mental health problems.

Effects of paternal drinking, conduct disorder and childhood home environment on the development of alcohol use disorders in a Thai population

AIMS

To identify influences on the development of alcohol use disorders in a Thai population, particularly parental drinking and childhood environment.

DESIGN

Case-control study.

SETTING

A university hospital, a regional hospital and a community hospital in southern Thailand.

PARTICIPANTS

Ninety-one alcohol-dependents and 77 hazardous/harmful drinkers were recruited as cases and 144 non- or infrequent drinkers as controls.

MEASUREMENTS

Data on parental drinking, family demographic characteristics, family activities, parental disciplinary practice, early religious life and conduct disorder were obtained using a structured interview questionnaire. The main outcome measure was the subject's classification as alcohol-dependent, hazardous/harmful drinker or non-/infrequent drinker.

FINDINGS

A significant relationship was found between having a drinking father and the occurrence of hazardous/harmful drinking or alcohol dependence in the subjects. Childhood factors (conduct disorder and having been a temple boy, relative probability ratios, RPRs and 95% CI: 6.39, 2.81-14.55 and 2.21, 1.19-4.08, respectively) also significantly predicted alcohol dependence, while perceived poverty and ethnic alienation was reported less frequently by hazardous/harmful drinkers and alcohol-dependents (RPRs and 95% CIs=0.34, 0.19-0.62 and 0.59, 0.38-0.93, respectively) than the controls. The relative probability ratio for the effect of the father's infrequent drinking on the son's alcohol dependence was 2.92 (95% CI=1.42-6.02) and for the father's heavy or dependent drinking 2.84 (95% CI=1.31-6.15).

CONCLUSIONS

Being exposed to a light-drinking father increases the risk of a son's alcohol use disorders exhibited either as hazardous-harmful or dependent drinking. However, exposure to a heavy- or dependent-drinking father is associated more uniquely with an increased risk of his son being alcohol-dependent. The extent to which this is seen in other cultures is worthy of exploration.

The use of alcohol by Miami's adolescent public school students 1992: peers, risk-taking, and availability as central forces

This analysis examines the use of alcohol by 535 adolescents in Dade County Public Schools during 1992. Statistically significant factors which tend to increase the probability of alcohol use by adolescents include: the fact that their friends drink, their awareness of the risks associated with the use of alcohol, and their ease in obtaining alcohol. Hence, the typical adolescent who uses alcohol seems to be a risk-taker, who may enjoy the dangers involved with alcohol use; friends are also users of alcohol. Not significantly related to alcohol use are a number of other variables, including family-related variables (whether adolescents live with their mothers, fathers, or alone; and whether someone in the family has a problem with drugs or alcohol). Similarly, early cigarette smoking did not serve as a gateway to later alcohol use. Religion, gender, race, academic performance, and extracurricular school activities (athletics, music, school clubs, and other activities) were all unrelated to the use of alcohol by adolescents. Although the typical adolescent who consumed alcohol was older (in grades 9 through 12), this was not a significant variable.

Disruption of family rituals as a mediator of the relationship between parental drinking and adult adjustment in offspring

This study investigated whether disruption of family-of-origin rituals and routines would mediate the relationship between family history of parental problem drinking (FH+, FH-) and two outcomes in adult offspring: adult children of alcoholics (ACOA) personality attributes and drinking problems. The self-reports of 143 students and 129 outpatients indicated that disruption of family routines and rituals mediated the relationship between family history status and both ACOA traits and problem drinking. These results suggest that the mediating effect of family-of-origin rituals and daily routines may explain some of the heterogeneity in adult outcomes of offspring from FH+ families, in both student and clinical samples.

Parent-child closeness affects the similarity of drinking levels between parents and their college-age children

College males reported drinking more frequently and in higher amounts than females. Correlations between quantity-frequency (QF) indices of drinking by parents and by their college-age children showed the greatest similarity between fathers and sons. Log linear analyses compared each parent's drinking level against each of three other factors that might affect the QF levels of college-age children: the relationship between parent and child, the effect of the parent's drinking on the parent, and how the parent's drinking affected their treatment of the child. The results supported models in which the relationship of each parent's drinking to the QF levels of both sons and daughters was affected by the closeness of the parent-child relationship. However, there was no support for models involving how each parent's drinking affected that parent or how each parent's drinking affected their treatment of the child.

Young women and alcohol: psychosocial factors associated with their own drinking, their fathers' drinking, and both

Psychosocial factors associated with young women's own alcohol consumption, and that of their fathers, were assessed in a sample of 231 females (mean age: 18.0 years) from the Hunter Region, NSW, Australia. Consistent with prior research, we found some evidence of poorer adjustment in girls who drank heavily and among daughters of high drinkers. In addition, we found that the "psychosocial profiles" associated with girls' and fathers' drinking were quite different, which argues against a simple additive model which might predict poorer adjustment in high drinking daughters of high drinking men. One interesting finding was that discordance between girls' and fathers' drinking patterns was independently related to some psychosocial problems.