Youth Exposure to Recreational Cannabis Legalization: Moderation of Effects by Sex and Parental Cannabis Use during Adolescence

OBJECTIVE

Few studies of recreational cannabis legalization (RCL) have assessed adolescents both before and after RCL or considered moderators of RCL effects. The present study tested whether RCL was more strongly associated with cannabis use for girls and among youth whose parents had a history of cannabis use during adolescence.

METHOD

Data were pooled from 940 adolescents from three intergenerational studies that began in Washington (where RCL was enacted in 2012), Oregon (RCL year = 2015), and New York (RCL year = 2021). Youth were assessed repeatedly from ages 13 to 18 years (k = 3,650 person-years) from 1999 to 2020 (prior to RCL in New York). Parent cannabis use at or before age 18 years (yes/no) was assessed prospectively during the parent's adolescence. Multilevel models focused on the between-subjects effects of years of youth exposure to RCL on adolescents' mean cannabis use likelihood, and interactions with child sex and parent use history.

RESULTS

Child exposure to RCL was associated with a higher likelihood of cannabis use if their parents had a history of adolescent use, (Estimate [SE] = 0.67 [0.25], p = 0.008), versus no such history (Estimate [SE] = -0.05 [0.28], p = 0.855). RCL effects were not moderated by child sex.

CONCLUSIONS

The effects of RCL on adolescents' cannabis use may depend on their parents' history of using the drug. Identifying other moderators of RCL effects, and understanding the mechanisms of these risks and the ways that parents and communities can offset them, are prevention priorities.

Reducing Suicidal Ideation in Preadolescents With a History of Foster Care by Promoting School Readiness in Early Childhood

Preadolescents with a history of foster care placement report suicidal ideation (SI) at higher rates than their peers, which increases their risk for suicide attempts in adolescence. Despite these increased risks, few interventions have been shown to reduce SI in these youth. This study examined the main and mediated long-term effects of a program to increase school readiness in children in foster care at age 5 years on SI when the children were ages 9-11 years, 4-6 years after the intervention ended. Children who received the intervention were less likely to report SI, although the difference did not reach statistical significance. The intervention reduced SI indirectly through its positive effect on children's self-esteem at age 9 years. Implications for programming to reduce SI and subsequent suicide attempts in youth with a history of foster care are discussed.

An Integrative Data Analysis of Main and Moderated Crossover Effects of Parent-Mediated Interventions on Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Youth in Foster Care

Without preventative intervention, youth with a history of foster care (FC) involvement have a high likelihood of developing depression and anxiety (DA) symptoms. The current study used integrative data analysis to harmonize data across four foster and kinship parent-mediated interventions (and seven randomized control trials) designed to reduce youth externalizing and other problem behaviors to determine if, and for how long, these interventions may have crossover effects on youth DA symptoms. Moderation of intervention effects by youth biological sex, developmental period, number of prior placements, and race/ethnicity was also examined. Youth (N = 1891; 59% female; ages 4 to 18 years) behaviors were assessed via the Child Behavior Checklist, Parent Daily Report, and Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory at baseline, the end of the interventions (4-6 months post baseline), and two follow-up assessments (9-12 months and 18-24 months post baseline), yielding 4830 total youth-by-time assessments. The interventions were effective at reducing DA symptoms at the end of the interventions; however, effects were only sustained for one program at the follow-up assessments. No moderation effects were found. The current study indicates that parent-mediated interventions implemented during childhood or adolescence aimed at reducing externalizing and other problem behaviors had crossover effects on youth DA symptoms at the end of the interventions. Such intervention effects were sustained 12 and 24 months later only for the most at-risk youth involved in the most intensive intervention.

The Co-Occurrence of Conduct Problems and Depressive Symptoms From Childhood to Adulthood for Men: Stability Over Time and Prediction to Substance Use

The dual pathway hypothesis of risk for substance use was tested by examining risk from symptoms of conduct problems and depressive symptoms in adolescence (from ages 10-11 to 17-18 years) to substance use-including tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit drugs-in both early adulthood (approximately from ages 20 to 29 years) and middle adulthood (approximately from ages 29 to 38 years). Hypotheses were tested on a sample of boys who were at risk for conduct problems by virtue of the neighborhoods where they lived in childhood (the Oregon Youth Study; N = 206 at Wave 1). Dual-trajectory modeling (Latent Class Analysis) resulted in a 3-group solution of high, moderate, and low co-occurring symptoms. The latent class of boys with co-occurring symptoms in adolescence showed higher levels of substance use in adulthood; namely, higher levels of cannabis and illicit substance use during early adulthood compared to either of the moderate or low symptom classes, and higher use of cannabis in midadulthood than the low symptom class. Those with co-occurring symptoms also showed, overall, higher vulnerability to use of tobacco in these 2 periods, but not to higher use of alcohol. Regression analyses indicated that the higher substance use of the co-occur group of men was related to their adolescent conduct problems, but was not related to their adolescent depressive symptoms; however, these associations were nonsignificant when adolescent use of the respective substances were included in the models. Thus, the dual-trajectory hypothesis was not supported. However, the findings indicated that, as assessed in the present study, the psychopathology symptoms of boys with conduct problems in adolescence who show risk for later substance use may be complex, involving depressive symptoms.

Recreational Cannabis Legalization and Proximity to Cannabis Retailers as Risk Factors for Adolescents' Cannabis Use

Within-person studies are lacking regarding how recreational cannabis legalization (RCL) and the numbers of neighborhood cannabis retailers relate to adolescents' cannabis use. Study participants were 146 offspring (55% girls; 77% White non-Latinx) of men recruited in childhood from neighborhoods with high delinquency rates. Youth were assessed for past-year cannabis and alcohol use one or more times from ages 13 to 20 years (age M[SD] = 16.4 [2.1] years across 422 observations), while they were living in Oregon or Washington from 2005 to 2019 (where cannabis retail stores opened to adults ages 21 years and older in 2014 and 2015, respectively). We calculated distances between addresses of licensed cannabis retailers and participants' homes. Multilevel models that accounted for effects of age on cannabis use did not support that the number of retail stores within 2-, 5-, 10-, or 20-mile radii of adolescents' homes increased likelihood of past-year cannabis use at the within- or between-subjects levels. Likewise, primary models did not support a greater likelihood of cannabis use among youth whose adolescence coincided more fully with the post-RCL period. A secondary model suggested that after adjusting for adolescents' concurrent alcohol use as a marker of general substance use risk, RCL was associated with cannabis use (between-subjects B [95% CI] = .35 [.05-.66], p = .024). Further research is needed with larger prospective samples, at-risk subgroups, and as cannabis markets mature.

Effects of Cannabis Legalization on Adolescent Cannabis Use Across 3 Studies

INTRODUCTION

Canada, Uruguay, and 18 states in the U.S. have legalized the use of nonmedical (recreational) cannabis for adults, yet the impact of legalization on adolescent cannabis use remains unclear. This study examined whether cannabis legalization for adults predicted changes in the probability of cannabis use among adolescents aged 13-18 years.

METHODS

Data were drawn from 3 longitudinal studies of youth (spanning 1999-2020) centered in 3 U.S. states: Oregon, New York, and Washington. During this time, Oregon (2015) and Washington (2012) passed cannabis legalization; New York did not. In each study, youth average age was 15 years (total N=940; 49%-56% female, 11%-81% Black/African American and/or Latinx). Multilevel modeling (in 2021) of repeated measures tested whether legalization predicted within- or between-person change in past-year cannabis use or use frequency over time.

RESULTS

Change in legalization status across adolescence was not significantly related to within-person change in the probability or frequency of self-reported past-year cannabis use. At the between-person level, youth who spent more of their adolescence under legalization were no more or less likely to have used cannabis at age 15 years than adolescents who spent little or no time under legalization.

CONCLUSIONS

This study addresses several limitations of repeated cross-sectional studies of the impact of cannabis legalization on adolescent cannabis use. Findings are not consistent with changes in the prevalence or frequency of adolescent cannabis use after legalization. Ongoing surveillance and analyses of subpopulations are recommended.

Does Observed Conflict Recovery Play a Role in Adolescent Dating Aggression?

In a study of conflict recovery and adolescent dating aggression, 14- to 18-year-old couples (N = 209 dyads) participated in a 1-hr observational assessment. Negative behavior was observed during conflict-evoking "hot" tasks and in a "cooldown" task. Physical and psychological dating aggression were assessed via questionnaires. Negative behavior measured in the cooldown task was not associated with dating aggression after controlling for carryover effects of negativity from the hot to cooldown tasks. Moreover, cooldown negativity moderated the associations of hot task negativity and dating aggression. Actor and partner effects were disentangled via dyadic data analyses. Given the paucity of observational studies of dating aggression, our findings are an important contribution to the literature and in need of replication and extension.

Demand-avoid-withdraw processes in adolescent dating aggression

We conducted an observational study of a collection of interactive processes known as "demand-withdraw" in relation to adolescent dating aggression. Couples (N = 209) aged 14-18 years participated in a challenging observational laboratory assessment to measure demands (i.e., pressures for a change), as well as demand → partner withdraw and demand → partner avoid sequences. Actor and partner effects were disentangled via dyadic data analyses. The results indicated a fairly consistent pattern in which demand → withdraw and demand → avoid sequences led by either partner were positively associated with both partners' physical and psychological aggression (measured via a dual informant questionnaire method). Further, higher quality demands (i.e., pressures for change that were specific and encouraged both members of the dyad to increase a given behavior) were inversely associated with aggression. Yet, all of the above associations were attenuated to the point of statistical nonsignificance after controlling for hostility. These results suggest two primary possibilities. The associations of demand → withdraw and demand → avoid sequences with dating aggression may be spurious, with the sequences merely markers for hostility, a known correlate of dating aggression. Alternatively, hostility may mediate the relations of demand → withdraw and demand → avoid sequences with dating aggression. Further research is required to test these competing explanations. Implications for preventive intervention are discussed.

Ratings of executive function as a risk factor for adolescents’ frequent cannabis use: A prospective longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE

We examined the extent to which behavioral ratings of children's executive function (EF) in early adolescence predicted adolescents' cannabis use, and whether associations were independent of parents' cannabis and alcohol use and adolescents' alcohol use.

METHOD

Participants were 198 offspring (44% boys) of 127 mothers and 106 fathers. Parents and teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) at ages 11-14 years. Youth were interviewed repeatedly from ages 14 to 20 years regarding frequency of cannabis and alcohol use. Two-level models regressed dichotomous cannabis outcomes (annual, weekly, or daily use) on age at the within-person level and the random intercept of cannabis use on EF, parent substance use, and covariates (age 7 IQ indicators, child gender, parent education, and mean of ages assessed) at the between-person level.

RESULTS

Poorer child EF predicted significantly (p < .05) higher likelihood of weekly (b[SE] = .64[.24]) and daily (b[SE] = .65[.25]), but not annual (b[SE] = .38[.22]), cannabis use. Parent cannabis use (b[SE] = .53[.25] to .81[.39], p < .05) independently predicted all three outcomes, and effects were distinct from those explained by parent alcohol use (b[SE] = .66[.29] to .81[.35], p < .05). EF remained a significant predictor of weekly and daily cannabis use after adjusting for parental alcohol and cannabis use, and adolescents' alcohol use.

CONCLUSIONS

Children exhibiting poorer EF were more likely to use cannabis weekly and daily in later adolescence. Whereas literature suggests poorer EF may be a consequence of cannabis use, these findings suggest EF should be considered prior to cannabis use initiation. EF during childhood may be a fruitful prevention target. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations between partner violence, parenting, and children's adjustment: A dyadic framework

To date, our knowledge of the effects of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children's functioning via parenting have relied on individual approaches, effectively placing parents outside of a relationship context, and greatly neglecting to incorporate fathers. The present study addresses these gaps by utilizing a dyadic model to assess how mothers' and fathers' psychological and physical IPV perpetration in early childhood (age 5 years) predicts both their own and each other's parenting in midchildhood (age 7 years) and, in turn, children's social and scholastic competence in late childhood (ages 11-12 years). Such models reflect the current consensus that bidirectional IPV is the most common pattern among couples. The present study involved 175 children (87 females) of 105 mothers and 102 fathers who were originally in the Oregon Youth Study (OYS, N = 206). Simple mediation results suggest maternal involvement in parenting is an important mediational mechanism for the relation between maternal IPV as a perpetrator and victim and childhood competencies. Similarly, father's involvement with parenting served as a mediational mechanism for social competence but only for his own IPV perpetration. Dyadic actor-partner models with maternal and paternal parenting yielded few significant mediational pathways, which is likely partially due to strong shared variance across partners in both IPV and parenting, leaving little unique variance. Overall, results indicated that father's IPV perpetration adds valuable information in explaining child adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations of Cannabis Use across Adolescence and Early Adulthood With Health and Psychosocial Adjustment in Early Adulthood and Midadulthood in Men

Background:

Associations between men’s prior cannabis use and their physical and psychosocial adjustment were examined using prospective data across adolescence (ages 13-20 years), early adulthood (ages 20-30 years), and midadulthood (ages 30-38 years). The theoretical framework was based in developmental-contextual and lifespan approaches.

Method:

Models were tested using men in the Oregon Youth Study who had been studied since ages 9 to 10 years and who, in childhood, lived in neighborhoods with higher than average rates of delinquency. Cannabis use in adolescence was used to predict early adult outcomes (and early adult use to midadult outcomes). In addition, a set of covariates was added to the models, including childhood risk factors assessed at age 9 years (ie, family socioeconomic status; externalizing behaviors; and if available, the childhood proxy for the outcome [eg, age 9 intelligence scale]) and alcohol use in adolescence (or early adulthood). physical health outcomes included accidental injuries, problems resulting from a prior injury, body mass index, self-report health, and also pain and cardiovascular risk (blood pressure and pulse rate) in midadulthood. Psychosocial outcomes included income, housing insecurity, intelligence, depressive symptoms, psychosis symptoms, hostility/aggression, social problems, and attention problems.

Results:

Whereas there was almost no prediction from prior cannabis use to the physical health outcomes, there were comprehensive associations of cannabis use from the prior developmental period and psychosocial outcomes in both early adulthood and midadulthood.

Conclusion:

Cannabis use in prior developmental periods was associated with a broad range of types of poor psychosocial adjustment in adulthood.

Couples' Anger Dynamics during Conflict: Interpersonal Anger Regulation, Relationship Satisfaction, and Intimate Partner Violence

We tested hypotheses about moment-to-moment interpersonal influences on anger during couples' conflict, and the association of those anger dynamics with relationship satisfaction and intimate partner violence (IPV). Displayed anger was coded from laboratory observations of cohabiting couples (N = 197); experienced anger was assessed via a video-recall procedure. Credible, but variable, associations were found in which a person's anger display at one moment was linked to change in the partner's anger display and experience in the next moment. Women's anger experience was more strongly influenced by men's anger displays in couples with higher levels of IPV and couples with lower levels of relationship satisfaction. The displayed anger of men who perpetrated higher levels of IPV was more strongly influenced by women's anger displays. Overall, when individuals displayed higher intensity anger, partners reacted with increasingly angry feelings but decreasingly angry displays. Results suggest that anger dynamics relate to dyadic processes and that dynamics relate to important relationship outcomes. Dyadic anger dynamics might prove a worthy intervention target.

Intergenerational Associations in Crime for an At-Risk Sample of US Men: Factors that May Mitigate or Exacerbate Transmission

PURPOSE

To examine moderation of intergenerational transmission of crime and antisocial behavior of parents to adult arrests of sons (from age 18 years to ages 37-38 years). Moderators examined were from late childhood (constructive parenting and sons' inhibitory control, internalizing symptoms, and cognitive function), adolescence (delinquency and deviant peer association), and early adulthood (educational achievement, employment history, substance use, deviant peer association, and partner antisocial behavior).

METHODS

Study participants were parents and sons (N = 206) from the longitudinal Oregon Youth Study, recruited from schools in the higher crime areas of a medium-sized metropolitan region in the Pacific Northwest. Assessment included official arrest records, school data, interviews, and questionnaires.

RESULTS

As hypothesized, parents' and sons' histories of two or more arrests were significantly associated. Predictions of sons' arrests from a broader construct of parental antisocial behavior were significantly moderated by sons' late childhood cognitive function and early adult employment history, substance use, and romantic partner's antisocial behavior. Overall, there was relatively little intergenerational association in crime at low levels of these moderators.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate relatively large intergenerational associations in crime. The identified moderators may be used as selection criteria or targeted in prevention and treatment efforts aimed at reducing such associations.

Evaluation of Two Approaches for Responding to Allegations of Family Maltreatment in the U.S. Army: Coordinated Community Response Impacts and Costs

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) conducted a program of research to develop and disseminate reliable and valid criteria for partner and child maltreatment (comprising abuse [physical, emotional/psychological, and sexual] and neglect). These criteria are now used in all branches of the U.S. military. The U.S. Army was the first service outside the USAF to adopt the criteria sets and computerized decision support tool but maintained the original committee composition (the "Case Review Committee" [CRC]) instead of adopting the entire assessment, allegation determination, and treatment planning process (the "Field-tested Assessment, Intervention-planning, and Response" [FAIR] system). The Army commissioned this study to compare the CRC and FAIR processes by testing (1) intra-committee process (i.e., three facets of committee functioning-fidelity to regulations, cohesion and team process, outsized influence of unit representatives); (2) coordinated community response to maltreatment (i.e., perceptions of fairness to alleged offenders and victims, impact on unit representatives, and (3) collaboration between the Family Advocacy Program (FAP, the military's maltreatment response agency) and outside agencies; and (4) the time expended and cost.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

New York University's Institutional Review Board approved the study protocol, and the Army's Human Research Protection Office provided permission to collect data. The ten Army garrisons with the most annual maltreatment cases participated. Committee members, FAP social workers, unit commanders, and independent observers completed assessments of individual meetings and of their overall impression of the processes. A test of whether the means significantly differed between phases was then performed separately for each outcome, and 95% CIs of the unstandardized mean difference between phases were estimated.

RESULTS

Independent observers rated FAIR meetings as significantly more faithful to regulations. Unit representatives (i.e., commanders and/or first sergeants) perceived the committee to function better during FAIR (although other committee members and independent observers did not perceive differences). Unit representatives not only rated FAIR as significantly more fair to both alleged offenders and victims (ratings from other committee members did not differ), but also were more likely to attend FAIR meetings and, when they did, rated their ability to serve soldiers and families higher during FAIR. However, FAP social workers rated their relationships with units as being better during CRC, and outside agencies rated their relationship with FAP as significantly better during CRC. Costs to the Army were nearly identical in the two committee structures.

CONCLUSION

Results indicated that the CRC and FAIR processes cost almost identical amounts to run and that the FAIR system was superior in ways most likely to impact service members: (1) independent observers judged its meetings to be more faithful to Army and DoD Instructions; (2) unit representatives were more likely to attend and believed the FAIR system to be fairer (to both alleged offenders and victims) and better functioning. Care should be taken, however, in nurturing relationships between FAP and (1) unit representatives and (2) outside agencies, which may have weakened during FAIR.

Intergenerational associations in onset of cannabis use during adolescence: A data synthesis approach

The present study examined associations between parents' and their children's ages of onset of cannabis use using a data synthesis methodology to pool data from 3 similarly designed intergenerational studies. Regarding age of first use of cannabis, prospective data were collected at one or more assessments from early to late adolescence in each generation. The extent to which parent and offspring gender separately or jointly moderated intergenerational effects was examined. Data were harmonized from studies originating in the states of Washington (Bailey, Hill, Epstein, Steeger, & Hawkins, 2018), New York (Thornberry, Henry, Krohn, Lizotte, & Nadel, 2018), and Oregon (Capaldi, Kerr, & Tiberio, 2018) when the parents were in late childhood to early adolescence; analyses concerned 1,081 parents and their children from 971 unique families. Parents' and their children's age of cannabis use onset during adolescence were modeled using discrete-time survival analysis techniques. Although data were successfully synthesized across the studies, the primary hypothesis was not supported: parents' earlier age of first cannabis use during adolescence was not significantly associated with earlier onset of cannabis use in the offspring generation. Rather, parents' histories of any cannabis use in adolescence-regardless of timing-were linked with increased risk for early onset cannabis use by their children compared to parents with no history of use during adolescence. There were no significant parent, child, or parent-by-child gender moderation effects. Thus, prevention of adolescent onset of cannabis in one generation may have prevention benefits for the next. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations of exposure to intimate partner violence and parent-to-child aggression with child competence and psychopathology symptoms in two generations

BACKGROUND

Associations of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and parent-to-child aggression (PCA) with child adjustment have not been examined adequately for community samples.

OBJECTIVE

To examine main, cumulative, and interactive associations of IPV and PCA (separately for physical and psychological aggression) with four aspects of child adjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing behavior; social and scholastic competence). Associations were examined between (a) G1 parent behavior and the adjustment of G2 boys (N = 203) at ages 13-14 years and (b) G2 parent behavior and the adjustment of G3 children (N = 294) at ages 4-5 and 11-12 years.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Families in a prospective, multigenerational dataset.

METHODS

Measures included reports by caregivers, children, and teachers. Cross-sectional regression models (controlling for parent socioeconomic status and G3 child gender) examined: (a) main effects of IPV or PCA, (b) the simultaneous (i.e., cumulative) effects of both IPV and PCA, and (c) interactive effects of IPV and PCA (sample size permitting) on each of the child adjustment outcomes.

RESULTS

When considered simultaneously, PCA (but not IPV) was associated with each aspect of child adjustment. The interaction between PCA and IPV indicated lower G2 adolescent scholastic competence and greater G3 preschool externalizing behavior for children exposed to lower levels of IPV and higher levels of PCA.

CONCLUSION

Psychological and physical PCA were associated with child adjustment problems even when accounting for IPV. Findings support the use of evidence-based programs to prevent PCA and PCA-associated child adjustment problems.

Paternal and maternal prescription opioid use and misuse: General and specific risks for early adolescents' substance use

BACKGROUND

Parent substance use is a risk factor early adolescents' substance use. Theoretical models of deviance and general substance use risk may not apply to risk-transmission pathways involving parents' prescription opioid misuse (POM) and child outcomes. Thus, we examined predictions of children's alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana (ATM) use in early adolescence, from parental POM, delinquency, depressive symptoms, and ATM use.

METHOD

Children (n = 216; 121 female) participated from early childhood to ages 11-12 or 13-14 years with their 111 fathers and 136 mothers. At all available waves, self-reports were collected on each parents' POM, ATM, prescription opioid use (POU), depressive symptoms, and delinquent behavior, and children's ATM use.

RESULTS

Poisson regressions were run separately by parent, controlled for child age and gender and paternal age at child's birth, and accounted for clustering of children in families. Child ATM use was predicted by paternal POM, but the effect was better explained by paternal ATM use, which was a stronger effect in families with higher father-child residential contact. In contrast and unexpectedly, mothers' POU but not POM predicted child ATM use, and the effect was not explained by the significant predictions from maternal ATM use and delinquency.

CONCLUSION

Fathers' POM and mothers' POU predicted child ATM use by early adolescence. Findings generally were consistent with parent-child risk-transmission processes described for other substances. Resident fathers' substance use and multiple maternal risk factors are worthy foci for prevention of the intergenerational transmission of substance use.

Intergenerational congruence in adolescent onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use

We examined alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana (ATM) use onset across early to late adolescence in a sample of fathers and their offspring. We tested a theory of developmental congruence in polysubstance use, or the extent to which fathers' ATM use onset in early adolescence increased risk for earlier ATM onset by their offspring. Average rates of adolescent ATM use onset were also compared across generations, which may reflect intergenerational discontinuity and secular trends. Children (n = 223, 44% boys) and their fathers (n = 113; originally recruited as boys at neighborhood risk for delinquency) contributed repeated prospective self-reports of their ATM use across adolescence (as late as age 18 years). Mothers' ATM use (retrospective) through age 18 years was available for 205 children. Data were analyzed using discrete-time survival mixture analysis. Compared with their fathers, boys and girls showed later onset for tobacco use, and girls showed later onset alcohol use. Developmental congruence was partially supported: Children showed earlier ATM use onset if their fathers were assigned to the early adolescent polysubstance use onset class, compared to the late-adolescent predominantly alcohol and tobacco onset class; mothers' ATM use in adolescence attenuated this effect. Consistent with national secular trends, rates of adolescent onset tobacco and alcohol use declined across generations, whereas marijuana use onset did not. However, there was intergenerational transmission of risk for early polysubstance use onset. Prevention that delays early substance use may have early life span effects as well as transgenerational implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Men's misuse of prescription opioids from early to middle adulthood: An examination of developmental and concurrent prediction models

OBJECTIVE

The prevalence of misuse of prescription opioids across adulthood and the associations of such misuse with symptoms of psychopathology and use of other substances were examined for an at-risk community sample of men.

METHOD

For a longitudinal study of boys (N = 206) followed to adulthood, misuse of prescription opioids was assessed on 13 occasions from ages 20-21 years to 37-38 years. Prediction of misuse was examined from prospectively assessed risk factors in 3 models: (a) parental substance use during the men's adolescence; (b) the men's own risk behaviors in adolescence-delinquent behavior, depressive symptoms, and use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and opioids; and (c) within- and between-individual effects of the men's risk behaviors during adulthood.

RESULTS

Opioid misuse was reported by 29% of men. After accounting for effects of age and considered individually, parent marijuana use and all of the adolescent and adult risk factors (except adolescent depressive symptoms) were significant between-individual predictors of opioid misuse. Furthermore, within-individual prediction was significant for adult delinquency and alcohol use after accounting for increases in opioid misuse with age. When risk factors were tested simultaneously, men's adult delinquency and use of marijuana and tobacco remained significant between-individual predictors, whereas no parental or adolescent risk factors remained significant in these models.

CONCLUSION

Both adolescent and adult risk factors were examined that predicted adult opioid misuse. Preventing adolescent problem behavior and using such histories to inform screening for misuse risk in adulthood may reduce the burden of the opioid crisis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing Associations in Substance Use across Three Generations: From Grandparents to Sons and from Sons to Their Children

The Three Generational Study (3GS) began in the early 90s and involves the third generation (G3) offspring of second generation (G2) fathers who were originally recruited in 1984 as part of the Oregon Youth Study (OYS) in mid childhood (ages 9-10 years) along with their first- generation (G1) parents. As boys, the G2 fathers lived in higher delinquency neighborhoods of a medium-sized Pacific Northwestern United States city. The OYS-3GS examines questions concerning socially mediated intergenerational transmission versus discontinuity (or moderation) of antisocial behavior, substance use, and related problem behaviors. Questions address influences of the grandparents, or Generation 1 (G1), on their sons in G2 and in turn of these sons and their partners on their own children in G3. In this article, we present an overview of the study design-and underlying theory-related to general and outcome-specific transmission pathways. We then summarize key issues and findings to date related to the current main focus of the study regarding intergenerational associations in substance use.

Intergenerational Associations in Sexual Onset: Mediating Influences of Parental and Peer Sexual Teasing and Youth Substance Use

PURPOSE

The prospective intergenerational association between fathers' age of onset of sexual intercourse and their son's or daughter's age of onset of oral sex or intercourse up to 30 years later was examined using survival analyses across child ages 11-12 years to 17-18 years. In addition, novel constructs of parental and peer sexual teasing (at ages 11-12 years) and general risk factors of child substance use onset (alcohol and marijuana) before or concurrent with sexual onset were assessed as predictors of children's sexual onset and mediators of intergenerational associations.

METHODS

Hypotheses were tested using the Oregon Youth Study Intergenerational sample, including 100 fathers and 176 children (46% girls).

RESULTS

Univariate findings indicated that children were at risk for earlier sexual onset, provided their fathers had onset of sex at younger ages; in addition, child alcohol and marijuana onset and parental, but not peer, sexual teasing predicted earlier age of sexual onset for children. Multivariate findings indicated that child alcohol onset fully mediated the intergenerational association in age of sexual onset, whereas parental teasing and child marijuana onset did not explain the intergenerational association.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings of intergenerational associations in risk of sexual onset indicate that mechanisms of this association should be further examined. Substance use onset also confers risk for earlier child sexual onset, with alcohol use onset accounting for intergenerational associations; thus, substance use onset should be a prime target for prevention. Parental sexual teasing warrants further study as a mechanism related to possibly unintended encouragement of youth's early sexual onset.

Parent-child coregulation of parasympathetic processes varies by social context and risk for psychopathology

The parasympathetic nervous system supports social interaction and varies in relation to psychopathology. However, we know little about parasympathetic processes from a dyadic framework, nor in early childhood when parent-child social interactions become more complex and child psychopathology first emerges. We hypothesized that higher risk for psychopathology (maternal psychopathology symptoms and child problem behavior) would be related to weaker concordance of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) between mothers and children (M = 3½ years old; N = 47) and that these relations could vary by social contextual demands, comparing unstructured free play, semistructured cleanup, and structured teaching tasks. Multilevel coupled autoregressive models of RSA during parent-child interactions showed overall dynamic, positive concordance in mother-child RSA over time, but this concordance was weaker during the more structured teaching task. In contrast, higher maternal psychological aggression and child externalizing and internalizing problems were associated with weaker dyadic RSA concordance, which was weakest during unstructured free play. Higher maternal depressive symptoms were related to disrupted individual mother and child RSA but not to RSA concordance. Thus, risk for psychopathology was generally related to weaker dyadic mother-child RSA concordance in contexts with less complex structure or demands (free play, cleanup), as compared to the structured teaching task that showed weaker RSA concordance for all dyads. Implications for the meaning and utility of the construct of parent-child physiological coregulation are discussed.

Understanding Persistence and Desistance in Crime and Risk Behaviors in Adulthood: Implications for Theory and Prevention

Recent theoretical advances related to the development and course, including persistence and desistance, of antisocial behaviors and conduct problems, violent behaviors, and related problem behaviors are discussed. Integrative theoretical models, including the Dynamic Developmental Systems (DDS), are discussed. Aspects of the DDS model regarding the development of and change in antisocial behavior and violence across adolescence and early adulthood are illustrated with findings from the Oregon Youth Study, an ongoing, long-term examination of the causes and consequences of antisocial behavior for a community-based sample of men (and their romantic partners) who were raised in neighborhoods with high delinquency rates. Preventive implications of the model are discussed.

The Relationships of Parental Alcohol Versus Tobacco and Marijuana Use With Early Adolescent Onset of Alcohol Use

OBJECTIVE

This study examined whether the use of tobacco and marijuana by fathers or mothers predicted onset of alcohol use in their offspring over and above effects of parental alcohol use.

METHOD

The present study included 146 children of 93 parents (90 fathers and 85 mothers). The fathers were originally recruited as boys to the Oregon Youth Study, a study of community, familial, and individual risk factors for delinquency.

RESULTS

Only mothers' but not fathers' alcohol use was associated with children's age at onset. Children's age at onset was predicted by mothers' tobacco use and by the interaction of fathers' marijuana use and alcohol use. These effects were observed when controlling for parental education, child's gender, and also child's antisocial behavior-a general developmental risk factor for substance use onset in adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

Mothers' substance use played a major role in childhood onset of alcohol use, yet the role of maternal substance use as a risk factor for their children has previously received less attention than the role of paternal substance use. Also, findings imply that it may be important to identify children of polysubstance-using parents for targeted prevention programs.

Probing Resilience: Daily Environmental Mastery, Self-Esteem, and Stress Appraisal

OBJECTIVES

The current study explores one way the process of resilience arises by investigating the underlying process of stress appraisal. In particular, the analyses examine how resilience resources function each day to attenuate the extent to which life experiences are perceived as threatening, and how trait-like resilience resources shape the appraisal process.

METHOD

Daily diary and questionnaire data from 96 participants of Successful Aging in Context: The Macroenvironment and Daily Lived Experience (SAIC; MAge = 67 years, SDAge = 4.9 years; range: 58-86 years) were analyzed using multilevel random coefficient modeling to investigate how individuals' daily perceptions of control and self-esteem impacted perceived stress on a given day.

RESULTS

Results suggested that both self-esteem and environmental mastery help mitigate the experience of stress; furthermore, dispositional resilience and self-esteem stability predict differences between individuals in the extent to which self-esteem tempers the perception of stress each day.

DISCUSSION

The results inform theoretical and empirical work on the nature of resilience, especially regarding how the process arises in ordinary life. From an application perspective, results imply that augmenting environmental mastery and self-esteem, both of which are malleable, can facilitate resilience by helping elders challenge their perceptions of stress each day.

Event-Level Associations of Marijuana and Heavy Alcohol Use With Intercourse and Condom Use

OBJECTIVE

The associations substance use has with sex and condom use among college students appear to be well documented and of clear public health significance. However, few event-level studies examine marijuana or heavy alcohol use, control for temporal patterns shared among these behaviors, or consider differences by relationship status.

METHOD

We recruited 284 18- to 22-year-old undergraduate men and women (79%), 61% of whom were in a serious relationship. For 24 consecutive days, participants reported on their prior day marijuana use, heavy alcohol use, vaginal intercourse, and condom use.

RESULTS

Most intercourse events (86%) were reported by participants in a serious relationship, and most (62%) were not protected by a condom. Hierarchical generalized linear models indicated that participants in a serious relationship were more likely to report intercourse than were others. Adjusting for weekly patterns in intercourse, odds of intercourse were higher on days participants reported marijuana or heavy alcohol use; the latter effect was stronger for single participants. Being drunk during sex, being in a serious relationship, and using noncondom birth control were associated with less condom use.

CONCLUSIONS

Models distinguish among multiple potential influences on undergraduates' sexual behavior. Findings suggest that greater attention to the relationship and other contexts of marijuana and alcohol use may be relevant to understanding young adults' sexual behavior and preventing health-risking or nonconsensual sex.

Contextual risks linking parents' adolescent marijuana use to offspring onset

OBJECTIVE

We studied the extent to which parent marijuana use in adolescence is associated with marijuana use onset in offspring through contextual family and peer risks.

METHOD

Fathers assessed (n=93) since childhood, their 146 offspring (n=83 girls), and offspring's mothers (n=85) participated in a longitudinal study. Using discrete-time survival analysis, fathers' (prospectively measured) and mothers' (retrospective) adolescent marijuana use was used to predict offspring marijuana use onset through age 19 years. Parental monitoring, child exposure to marijuana use, peer deviance, peer marijuana use, and perceptions of parent disapproval of child use were measured before or concurrent with onset.

RESULTS

Parents' adolescent marijuana use was significantly associated with less monitoring, offspring alcohol use, the peer behaviors, exposure to adult marijuana use, and perceptions of less parent disapproval. Male gender and the two peer behaviors were positively associated with children's marijuana use onset, controlling for their alcohol use. Parents' adolescent marijuana use had a significant indirect effect on child onset through children's deviant peer affiliations and a composite contextual risk score.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents' histories of marijuana use may contribute indirectly to children's marijuana use onset through their influence on the social environments children encounter; specifically, those characterized by more liberal use norms, exposure to marijuana use and deviant and marijuana-using peers, and less adult supervision. Given that alcohol use onset was controlled, findings suggest that the contextual factors identified here confer unique risk for child marijuana use onset.

Contextual risks linking parents' adolescent marijuana use to offspring onset

OBJECTIVE

We studied the extent to which parent marijuana use in adolescence is associated with marijuana use onset in offspring through contextual family and peer risks.

METHOD

Fathers assessed (n=93) since childhood, their 146 offspring (n=83 girls), and offspring's mothers (n=85) participated in a longitudinal study. Using discrete-time survival analysis, fathers' (prospectively measured) and mothers' (retrospective) adolescent marijuana use was used to predict offspring marijuana use onset through age 19 years. Parental monitoring, child exposure to marijuana use, peer deviance, peer marijuana use, and perceptions of parent disapproval of child use were measured before or concurrent with onset.

RESULTS

Parents' adolescent marijuana use was significantly associated with less monitoring, offspring alcohol use, the peer behaviors, exposure to adult marijuana use, and perceptions of less parent disapproval. Male gender and the two peer behaviors were positively associated with children's marijuana use onset, controlling for their alcohol use. Parents' adolescent marijuana use had a significant indirect effect on child onset through children's deviant peer affiliations and a composite contextual risk score.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents' histories of marijuana use may contribute indirectly to children's marijuana use onset through their influence on the social environments children encounter; specifically, those characterized by more liberal use norms, exposure to marijuana use and deviant and marijuana-using peers, and less adult supervision. Given that alcohol use onset was controlled, findings suggest that the contextual factors identified here confer unique risk for child marijuana use onset.

Growth, Persistence, and Desistance of Alcohol Use for At-Risk Men in Their 30s

BACKGROUND

Little is known about heterogeneity in men's drinking behaviors and their related consequences across mid-adulthood, and moreover, whether individual or social factors may predict such differences. This study examined 3 indicators of alcohol use, namely alcohol volume, heavy episodic drinking (HED), and drinking-related problems for men in their 30s.

METHODS

Participants were 197 at-risk men from the Oregon Youth Study assessed 5 times across ages 29 to 38 years. Growth mixture modeling with count outcomes was used to examine unobserved heterogeneity in alcohol trajectories. Associations of latent classes of alcohol users with (i) classes for the other alcohol indicators, (ii) alcohol use by peers and romantic partners, (iii) alcohol classes previously extracted from ages 18 to 29 years, and (iv) past year alcohol use disorder (AUD) diagnostic status at ages 35 to 36 years were examined.

RESULTS

A 3-class solution afforded the best fit for each alcohol indicator. Alcohol problems were relatively established in the 30s, with an ascending use class found only for volume. Although relatively few men were in higher classes for all 3 indicators, 45% of the sample was in the highest class on at least 2 indicators of use. Peer drunkenness was a robust predictor of the alcohol classes. Concordance among classes of alcohol users was seen from the 20s to the 30s, with prior desistance likely to be maintained for alcohol volume and HED. AUD diagnoses at ages 35 to 36 years were more common in the higher classes obtained for alcohol volume and alcohol problems.

CONCLUSIONS

Many men in their 30s engaged in a high volume of alcohol use without frequent engagement in HED, likely relating to continuing alcohol problems. The convergence of men's alcohol use with that of their peers found at younger ages was maintained into early mid-adulthood.

Coregulation of respiratory sinus arrhythmia between parents and preschoolers: differences by children's externalizing problems

The coordination of physiological processes between parents and infants is thought to support behaviors critical for infant adaptation, but we know little about parent-child physiological coregulation during the preschool years. The present study examined whether time-varying changes in parent and child respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) exhibited coregulation (across-person dynamics) accounting for individual differences in parent and child RSA, and whether there were differences in these parasympathetic processes by children's externalizing problems. Mother-child dyads (N = 47; Child age M = 3½ years) engaged in three laboratory tasks (free play, clean up, puzzle task) for 18 min, during which RSA data were collected. Multilevel coupled autoregressive models revealed that mothers and preschoolers showed positive coregulation of RSA such that changes in mother RSA predicted changes in the same direction in child RSA and vice versa, controlling for the stability of within-person RSA over time and individual differences in overall mean RSA. However, when children's externalizing behaviors were higher, coregulation was negative such that changes in real-time mother and child RSA showed divergence rather than positive concordance. Results suggest that mothers and preschoolers do coregulate RSA during real-time interactions, but that children's higher externalizing behavior problems are related to disruptions in these processes.

Changes in the Associations of Heavy Drinking and Drug Use with Intimate Partner Violence in Early Adulthood

The hypothesis that the disinhibitory effects induced by alcohol consumption contribute to domestic violence has gained support from meta-analyses of mainly cross-sectional studies that examined the association between alcohol abuse and perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, findings from multilevel analyses of longitudinal data investigating the time-varying effects of heavy episodic drinking (HED) on physical IPV have been equivocal. This 12-year prospective study used multilevel analysis to examine the effects of HED and illicit drug use on perpetration of both physical and psychological IPV during early adulthood. Participants were 157 romantic couples who were assessed biennially 2 to 6 times for substance misuse and IPV. The analyses found no significant main effect of either HED or drug use on perpetration of IPV but there were significant interactions of both HED and drug use with age. Moreover, the developmental trends in substance use effects on IPV typically varied by gender and type of IPV.

Intimate partner violence and diurnal cortisol patterns in couples

This study examined whether physical intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization was associated with diurnal patterns of salivary cortisol in a community sample of 122 couples in their 30s from predominantly lower socioeconomic status backgrounds. Findings indicate that women with higher levels of victimization exhibited flatter patterns of diurnal cortisol characterized by both higher midday levels and more attenuated decreases in cortisol levels across the day, compared to women with lower levels of victimization. However, men's victimization was not associated with their diurnal cortisol levels. This study advances our understanding of the association between physical IPV victimization and dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in women, which is likely to have further implications for their subsequent mental and physical health.

Parental monitoring of children's media consumption: the long-term influences on body mass index in children

IMPORTANCE

Although children's media consumption has been one of the most robust risk factors for childhood obesity, effects of specific parenting influences, such as parental media monitoring, have not been effectively investigated.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the potential influences of maternal and paternal monitoring of child media exposure and children's general activities on body mass index (BMI) in middle childhood.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

A longitudinal study, taken from a subsample of the Three Generational Study, a predominantly white, Pacific Northwest community sample (overall participation rate, 89.6%), included assessments performed from June 1998 to September 2012. Analyses included 112 mothers, 103 fathers, and their 213 children (55.4% girls) at age 5, 7, and/or 9 years. Participation rates ranged from 66.7% to 72.0% of all eligible Three Generational Study children across the 3 assessments.

EXPOSURES

Parents reported on their general monitoring of their children (whereabouts and activities), specific monitoring of child media exposure, children's participation in sports and recreational activities, children's media time (hours per week), annual income, and educational level. Parental BMI was recorded.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Predictions to level and change in child BMI z scores were tested.

RESULTS

Linear mixed-effects modeling indicated that more maternal, but not paternal, monitoring of child media exposure predicted lower child BMI z scores at age 7 years (95% CI, -0.39 to -0.07) and less steeply increasing child BMI z scores from 5 to 9 years (95% CI, -0.11 to -0.01). These effects held when more general parental monitoring, and parent BMI, annual income, and educational level were controlled for. The significant negative effect of maternal media monitoring on children's BMI z scores at age 7 years was marginally accounted for by the effect of child media time. The maternal media monitoring effect on children's BMI z score slopes remained significant after adjustment for children's media time and sports and recreational activity.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

These findings suggest that parental behaviors related to children's media consumption may have long-term effects on children's BMI in middle childhood. They underscore the importance of targeting parental media monitoring in efforts to prevent childhood obesity.

Growth of men's alcohol use in early adulthood: intimate partners' influence

The present study examined the effects of intimate partners' alcohol use on the developmental trajectories of men's alcohol use across their early to late 20s. Longitudinal data from a community sample of 110 at-risk young men and their intimate partners were analyzed using latent growth modeling. Results indicated that, in general, men showed a significant linear decrease in alcohol use across their 20s, as expected. However, partners' alcohol use had significant and positive effects on men's concurrent alcohol use across their 20s, regardless of relationship status, even after taking into account autoregressive effects of men's own alcohol use and their antisocial behavior. Furthermore, a new partner's alcohol use had a significantly greater influence on the man's alcohol use in his late 20s compared to a partner's alcohol use from intact relationships. Findings from the present study highlight the importance of considering intimate partners' alcohol use as part of the proximal psychosocial environment influencing men's alcohol use during early adulthood. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.

New approaches for examining associations with latent categorical variables: applications to substance abuse and aggression

Assessments of substance use behaviors often include categorical variables that are frequently related to other measures using logistic regression or chi-square analysis. When the categorical variable is latent (e.g., extracted from a latent class analysis [LCA]), classification of observations is often used to create an observed nominal variable from the latent one for use in a subsequent analysis. However, recent simulation studies have found that this classical 3-step analysis championed by the pioneers of LCA produces underestimates of the associations of latent classes with other variables. Two preferable but underused alternatives for examining such linkages-each of which is most appropriate under certain conditions-are (a) 3-step analysis, which corrects the underestimation bias of the classical approach, and (b) 1-step analysis. The purpose of this article is to dissuade researchers from conducting classical 3-step analysis and to promote the use of the 2 newer approaches that are described and compared. In addition, the applications of these newer models-for use when the independent, the dependent, or both categorical variables are latent-are illustrated through substantive analyses relating classes of substance abusers to classes of intimate partner aggressors.

The interplay between interpersonal stress and psychological intimate partner violence over time for young at-risk couples

The substantial number of young people in romantic relationships that involve intimate partner violence, a situation deleterious to physical and mental health, has resulted in increased attention to understanding the links between risk factors and course of violence. The current study examined couples' interpersonal stress related to not liking partners' friends and not getting along with parents as contextual factors associated with couples' psychological partner violence and determined whether and when couples' friend and parent stress increased the likelihood of couples' psychological partner violence. A linear latent growth curve modeling approach was used with multiwave measures of psychological partner violence, friend stress, parent stress, and relationship satisfaction obtained from 196 men at risk for delinquency and their women partners over a 12-year period. At the initial assessment, on average, the men were age 21.5 years and the women were age 21 years. Findings indicated that couples experiencing high levels of friend and parent stress were more likely to engage in high levels of psychological partner violence and that increases in couples' friend stress predicted increases in couples' partner violence over time, even when accounting for the couples' relationship satisfaction, marital status, children in the home, and financial strain. Interactive effects were at play when the couples were in their early 20s, with couples being most at risk for increases in psychological partner violence if they experienced both high friend stress and low relationship satisfaction. Couples' friend stress had the greatest effect on psychological partner violence when the couples were in their early to mid 20s when levels of friend stress were high. As the couples reached their 30s, low relationship satisfaction became the leading predictor of couples' psychological partner violence.