Alcohol Dependence and Reproductive Timing in African and European Ancestry Women: Findings in a Midwestern Twin Cohort

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective:We examined associations between reproductive onset and history of alcohol dependence (AD) in 475 African ancestry (AA) and 2,865 European or other ancestry (EA) female twins. Method: Participants were drawn from a U.S. midwestern birth cohort study of like-sex female twin pairs born between 1975 and 1985, ages 21-32 as of last completed assessment. Cox proportional hazards regression models were estimated predicting age at fi rst childbirth from history of AD, separately by race/ethnicity, without and with adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, history of other substance involvement, psychopathology, and family and childhood risks.Results: Among EA twins, AD predicted early childbearing through age 17 and delayed childbearing from age 25 onward; in adjusted models, AD was associated with overall delayed childbearing. Among AA twins, reproductive timing and AD were not signifi cantly related in either unadjusted or adjusted models. Conclusions: Findings for twins of European ancestry are consistent with well-documented links between early alcohol mis/use and teenage parenting as well as delays in childbearing associated with drinking-related reproductive and relationship diffi culties. Extension of analyses to other racial/ethnic groups of suffi cient sample size remains important. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 75, 235-240, 2014)

Alcohol Dependence and Reproductive Onset in Women, Updated: Analyses of Research and State-Level Administrative Data

“…Fewer studies examine associations between alcohol use and timing of reproduction assessed beyond adolescence. Among exceptions are two published reports documenting, in three samples, delays in childbearing as a function of dependent drinking (Waldron et al, 2008(Waldron et al, , 2014a. Such findings are surprising given widely reported risks of early motherhood, albeit consistent with separate research documenting alcohol-related reproductive impairments (Emanuele et al, 2002).…”

“…A brief summary is provided here; for a detailed description of coding, see the supplemental materials, which appear as an online-only addendum to the article on the journal's website. Consistent with prior work (Waldron et al, 2014a), twin's educational attainment, marital history, and weekly religious practice were included among sociodemographic control variables, each assessed at Wave 5. To control for comorbid psychopathology, we modeled lifetime history of DSM-IV major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, childhood conduct disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) inattention and hyperactivity.…”

“…In this brief report, we update the most recent of prior studies linking dependent drinking with delayed reproduction conducted by Waldron and colleagues (2014a). Waldron et al (2014a) examined lifetime history of alcohol depen-dence according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fo urth Edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and self-reported age at childbearing in a birth cohort of European American and African American female twins. At last interview, the majority of twins were in their middle to late 20s, with fewer than half of all twins having given birth.…”

“…We extend the work of Waldron et al (2014a) by examining associations between alcohol dependence and birth record-derived reproductive onset, the latter incorporated to capture additional first births occurring over peak childbearing years, up to 10 years following twins' last self-report of childbearing. Our goal in the present study was twofold: (a) to analyze additional data on later-occurring first births, where findings are most novel and (b) to demonstrate the utility of supplementing research with administrative data.…”

“…Our goal in the present study was twofold: (a) to analyze additional data on later-occurring first births, where findings are most novel and (b) to demonstrate the utility of supplementing research with administrative data. Consistent with Waldron et al (2014a), we estimated separate models for European American and African American twins without and with adjustment for correlates of both reproductive timing and alcohol dependence that might otherwise account for observed associations.…”