Abstract
Although previous studies show that children of alcoholic parents have higher rates of externalizing symptoms compared to their peers, it remains unclear whether the timing of children’s externalizing symptoms is linked to that of their parent’s alcohol-related symptoms. Using a multilevel modeling approach, we tested whether children aged 2 through 17 showed elevated mother-, father- and child-reported externalizing symptoms (a) at the same time that parents showed alcohol-related consequences (time-varying effects), (b) if parents showed greater alcohol-related consequences during the study period (proximal effects), and (c) if parents had a lifetime diagnosis of alcoholism that predated the study period (distal effects). We used integrative data analysis to combine samples from two prospective studies to test these hypotheses. Distal effects of parent alcoholism on increased child externalizing symptoms were large and consistent. In addition, proximal and time-varying effects of parent alcohol symptoms were also found. Implications for preventing escalations in externalizing symptoms among this high-risk population are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This definition of the proximal effects of parents’ alcohol-related consequences can be distinguished from distal effects both conceptually (as described earlier) and methodologically. It is of course true that variance in the proximal effects and overall levels of alcohol-related symptoms are higher in the COA families. Notably, descriptive analyses show a M = 0.17, SD = 0.39 for controls and M = 1.05, SD = 1.28 for COAs on father’s alcohol-related symptoms (proximal effect) and M = 0.09, SD = 0.31 for controls and M = 0.71, SD = 1.14 for COAs on mother’s alcohol-related symptoms. From another perspective, 76% of controls and 33% of COAs had reports of zero on father’s alcohol-related symptoms over the study period, with 86% and 49% doing so, respectively, for mother’s alcohol-related symptoms. Importantly, we tested these effects as unique from one another, so in our analyses we are testing whether these proximal variation in alcohol-related symptoms have predictive utility above and beyond distal effects.
Note that the calibration sample size is larger than the analysis sample size due to the omission of cases in the analytic sample resulting from missing data on predictor variables. The adolescent calibration sample also included the MLS participants who provided symptomatology data but not concurrent reports of parent alcohol-related symptoms, and thus were not used in the current analysis samples.
Age was thus recoded as ranging from -11 to 4 for mother-report analyses and as ranging from -3 to 4 for adolescent-report analyses. For father report analyses, two dummy variables representing age coded the two-piece functional form, with the first coded -5 to 0 to capture change from ages 2 through 7 (and 0 from 7 to 17) and the second coded -6 from ages 2 through 7 and -5 to 4 from ages 8 through 17 to capture change from ages 7 to 17.
References
Achenbach, T. M. & Edelbrock, C. S. (1978). The classification of child psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1275–1301.
Andreasen, N. C., Endicott, J., Spitzer, R. L., & Winokur, G. (1977). The family history method using diagnostic criteria. Reliability and validity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 1229–1235.
Bollen, K. A. & Curran, P. J. (2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation approach. Wiley series on probability and mathematical statistics. New York: Wiley.
Buu, A., DiPiazza, C., Wang, J., Puttler, L. I., Fitzgerald, H. E. & Zucker, R. A. (2009). Familial and neighborhood influences over the course of childhood and the development of drug involvement and other psychopathology in late adolescence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I., et al. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science, 297, 851–854.
Chassin, L., Rogosch, F., & Barrera, M. (1991). Substance use and symptomatology among adolescent children of alcoholics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 449–463.
Chassin, L., Barrera, M., Jr., Bech, K., & Kossak-Fuller, J. (1992). Recruiting a community sample of adolescent children of alcoholics: a comparison of three subject sources. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 53, 316–319.
Chassin, L., Curran, P. J., Hussong, A. M., & Colder, C. R. (1996). The relation of parent alcoholism to adolescent substance use: a longitudinal follow-up study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 70–80.
Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S. L. (2000). Development processes in maltreated children. In D. Hansen (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, Vol. 46: Child maltreatment. Lincoln: University of Nebraska.
Collishaw, S., Goodman, R., Ford, T., Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Pickles, A. (2009). How far are associations between child, family, and community factors and child psychopathology informant-specific and informant-general? The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 571–580.
Curran, P. J. & Chassin, L. (1996). A longitudinal study of parenting as a protective factor for children of alcoholics. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 57(3), 305–313.
Curran, P. J., & Bauer, D. J. (2009). The disaggregation of within-person and between-person effects in longitudinal studies of change. To appear in Annual Review of Psychology.
Curran, P. J. & Hussong, A. M. (2009). Integrative data analysis: the simultaneous analysis of multiple data sets. Psychological Methods, 14, 81–100.
Curran, P. J., Bauer, D. J., & Willoughby, M. T. (2006). Testing the probing interactions in hierarchical linear growth models. In C. S. Bergeman & S. M. Boker (Eds.), Methodological issues in aging research (pp. 99–129). Mahway: Erlbaum.
Curran, P. J., Edwards, M. C., Wirth, R. J., Hussong, A. M., & Chassin, L. (2007). Alternative categorical measurement models for the analysis of individual growth. In T. Little, J. Bovaird & N. Card (Eds.), Modeling ecological and contextual effects in longitudinal studies of human development (pp. 89–120). Mahwah: LEA.
Curran, P. J., Hussong, A. M., Cai, L., Huang, W., Chassin, L., Sher, K. J., et al. (2008). Pooling data from multiple prospective studies: the role of item response theory in integrative analysis. Developmental Psychology, 44, 365–380.
DeLucia, C., Belz, A., & Chassin, L. (2001). Do adolescent symptomatology and family environment vary over time with fluctuations in paternal alcohol impairment? Developmental Psychology, 37, 207–216.
Dishion, T., Duncan, T., Eddy, J., Fagot, B., & Feltrow, B. (1994). The world of parents and peers coercive exchanges and children.s social adaptation. Social Development, 3, 255–265.
Egeland, B., Yates, T., Appleyard, K., & van Dulmen, M. (2002). The long-term consequences of maltreatment in the early years: a developmental pathway model to antisocial behavior. Children's services: Social policy, research, and practice, 5, 249–260.
Eiden, R. D., Chavez, F., & Leonard, K. E. (1999). Parent-infant interactions in alcoholic and control families. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 745–762.
Eiden, R. D., Edwards, E. P., & Leonard, K. E. (2007). A conceptual model for the development of externalizing behavior problems among kindergarten children of alcoholic families: role of parenting and children's self-regulation. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1187–1201.
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. B., Woodruff, R. A., Winokur, G., & Munoz, R. (1972). Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 57–63.
Forehand, R. & McCombs, A. (1988). Unraveling the antecedent-consequence conditions in maternal depression and adolescent functioning. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 26(5), 399–405.
Granic, I. & Patterson, G. R. (2006). Toward a comprehensive model of antisocial development: A dynamic systems approach. Psychological Review, 113, 101–131.
Hussong, A. M. & Chassin, L. (1997). Substance use initiation among adolescent children of alcoholics: testing protective factors. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58, 272–279.
Hussong, A. M., Curran, P. J., & Chassin, L. (1998). Pathways of risk for accelerated heavy alcohol use among adolescent children of alcoholic parents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 453–466.
Hussong, A. M., Cai, L., Curran, P. J., Flora, D. B., Chassin, L. A., & Zucker, R. A. (2008). Disaggregating the distal, proximal, and time-varying effects of parent alcoholism on children’s internalizing symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 335–346.
Hussong, A. M., Wirth, R. J., Edwards, M. C., Curran, P. J., Chassin, L. A., & Zucker, R. A. (2007). Externalizing symptoms among children of alcoholic parents: entry points for an antisocial pathway to alcoholism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 529–542.
Kendler, K. S., Prescott, C. A., Myers, J., & Neale, M. C. (2003). The structure of genetic and environmental risk factors for common psychiatric and substance use disorders in men and women. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 929–937.
King, S. M., Keyes, M., Malone, S. M., Elkins, I., Legrand, L. N., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2009). Parental alcohol dependence and the transmission of adolescent behavioral disinhibition: A study of adoptive and non-adoptive families. Addiction, 104(4), 578–586.
Krueger, R. F., Hicks, B. M., Patrick, C. J., Carlson, S. R., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2002). Etiologic connections among substance dependence, antisocial behavior, and personality: modeling the externalizing spectrum. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 411–424.
Littell, R. C., Milliken, G. A., Stroup, W. W., & Wolfinger, R. D. (1996). SAS system for mixed models. Cary: SAS.
Loukas, A., Fitzgerald, H. E., Zucker, R. A., & von Eye, A. (2001). Parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior: prospective relationships to externalizing behavior problems in their young sons. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 91–106.
Loukas, A., Zucker, R. A., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Krull, J. L. (2003). Developmental trajectories of disruptive behavior problems among sons of alcoholics: effects of parent psychopathology, family conflict, and child undercontrol. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 119–131.
McArdle, J. J., Grimm, K. J., Hamagami, F., Bowles, R. P., & Meredith, W. (2009). Modeling life-span growth curves of cognition using longitudinal data with multiple samples and changing scales of measurement. Psychological Methods, 14, 126–149.
McGue, M., Iacono, W. G., & Krueger, R. (2006). The association of early adolescent problem behavior and adult psychopathology: a multivariate behavioral genetic perspective. Behavior Genetics, 36, 591–602.
Mehta, P. D. & West, S. G. (2000). Putting the individual back into individual growth curves. Psychological Methods, 5, 23–43.
Offord, D. R., Boyle, M. H., Racine, Y., Szatmari, P., Fleming, J. E., Sanford, M., et al. (1996). Integrating assessment data from multiple informants. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1078–1085.
Raudenbush, S. W. & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Croughan, J., & Ratcliff, K. S. (1981). National institute of mental health diagnostic interview schedule: its history, characteristics, and validity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 381–389.
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Ratcliff, K. S., & Seyfried, W. (1982). Validity of the diagnostic interview schedule, version II: DSM-III diagnoses. Psychological Medicine, 12, 855–870.
Rubin, D. B. (1987). Multiple imputation for nonresponse in surveys. New York: Wiley.
Rubin, D. B. (1996). Multiple imputation after 18+ years. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 91, 473–489.
SAS Institute. (1999). SAS/STAT user’s guide: PROC MI, version 9.1.3. Cary: SAS.
Schafer, J. L. (1997a). Analysis of incomplete multivariate data. London: Chapman & Hall.
Schafer, J. L. (1997b). Imputation of missing covariates under a multivariate linear mixed model. Unpublished technical report.
Selzer, M. L., Vinokur, A., & van Rooijan, L. (1975). A self-administered short Michigan alcoholism screening test (SMAST). Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 36, 117–126.
Sher, K. J., Walitzer, K. S., Wood, P. K., & Brent, E. E. (1991). Characteristics of children of alcoholics: putative risk factors, substance use and abuse, and psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 427–448.
Singer, J. D. & Willett, J. B. (2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence. New York: Oxford University.
Thissen, D. (1991). MULTILOG user's guide: Multiple, categorical item analysis and test scoring using item response theory. Chicago, IL.
Thissen, D. (2001). IRTLRDIF v. 2.01b: Software for the computation of the statistics involved in item response theory likelihood-ratio tests for differential item functioning [Computer software]. Chapel Hill: L.L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory.
Thissen, D., & Wainer, H. (2001). Test scoring: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Thissen, D., Steinberg, L., & Wainer, H. (1993). Detection of differential item functioning using the parameters of item response models. In H. Wainer & P. Holland (Eds.), Differential item functioning (pp. 67–113). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Werner, E. E. (1986). Resilient offspring of alcoholics: a longitudinal study from birth to age 18. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 47(1), 34–40.
Wolin, S. J., Bennett, L. A., Noonan, D. L., & Teitelbaum, M. A. (1980). Disrupted family rituals: a factor in the intergenerational transmission of alcoholism. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 41, 199–214.
Zucker, R. A. (2006). Alcohol use and alcohol use disorders: a developmental-biopsychosocial systems formulation covering the life course. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology, Volume 3: Risk, disorder and adaptation (2nd ed., pp. 620–656). Hoboken: Wiley.
Zucker, R. A., Noll, R. B., Fitzgerald, H. E. (1988). Drinking and drug history questionnaire-revised edition (Version 3). Unpublished questionnaire. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.
Zucker, R. A., Fitzgerald, H. E., Refior, S. K., Puttler, L. I., Pallas, D. M., & Ellis, D. A. (2000). The clinical and social ecology of childhood for children of alcoholics: description of a study and implications for a differentiated social policy. In H. E. Fitzgerald, B. M. Lester & B. S. Zuckerman (Eds.), Children of addiction: Research, health and policy issues (pp. 174–222). New York: Garland.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grants R01 DA15398 to XX and R01 DA013148 to XXX. The work was also supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grants R37 AA 07065 to XXX and R01 AA016213 to XX. We thank all current and former members of XX group, particularly XX and XX, for suggestions and help with the analysis.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hussong, A.M., Huang, W., Curran, P.J. et al. Parent Alcoholism Impacts the Severity and Timing of Children’s Externalizing Symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38, 367–380 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-009-9374-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-009-9374-5