Early Developmental Processes and the Continuity of Risk for Underage Drinking and Problem Drinking

Abstract

Developmental pathways to underage drinking emerge before the second decade of life. Many scientists, however, as well as the general public, continue to focus on proximal influences surrounding the initiation of drinking in adolescence, such as social, behavioral, and genetic variables related to availability and ease of acquisition of the drug, social reinforcement for its use, and individual differences in drug responses. In the past 20 years, a considerable body of evidence has accumulated on the early (often much earlier than the time of the first drink) predictors and pathways of youthful alcohol use and abuse. These early developmental influences involve numerous risk, vulnerability, promotive, and protective processes. Some of these factors are not related directly to alcohol use, whereas others involve learning and expectancies about later drug use that are shaped by social experience. The salience of these factors (identifiable in early childhood) for understanding the course and development of adult alcohol and other drug use disorders is evident from the large and growing body of findings on their ability to predict adult clinical outcomes. This review summarizes the evidence on early pathways toward and away from underage drinking, with a particular focus on the risk and protective factors and the mediators and moderators of risk for underage drinking that become evident during the preschool and early school years. It is guided by a developmental perspective on the aggregation of risk and protection and examines the contributions of biological, psychological, and social processes within the context of normal development. Implications of this evidence for policy, intervention, and future research are discussed. S EVERAL BASIC THEMES provide guidance for developing a perspective on the timing, processes, and experiences in earlier life relevant to the acquisition, use, and problem use of alcohol. First, much of the causal structure underlying youthful alcohol use and abuse is not specific to alcohol and in particular is either directly or indirectly the result of the development of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. 1-3 Family history of antisocial behavior, child maltreatment, and other negative life experiences are well-established precursors of later alcohol problems and alcohol use disorders (AUDs). These predictors are nonspecific risks for alcohol involvement, because they also predict a broad array of other problematic outcomes, including problems of undercontrolled or dysregulated behavior such as conduct problems, impulsivity, attention problems, aggressiveness, antisocial personality disorder, and depressive spectrum disorders.Second, at the same time that children develop behavior problems not specific to alcohol, they acquire knowledge about the existence of alcohol as an object in the social environment. Learning about alcohol includes developing beliefs about alcohol on the basis of an awareness of its special characteristics as a drug (how it produces changes in cognitio...

Childhood ADHD and Conduct Disorder as Independent Predictors of Male Alcohol Dependence at Age 40

“…Both prospective and retrospective studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between these two childhood disorders and later alcohol misuse when the two are allowed to co-exist naturally (Flory and Lynam, 2003;Schuckit et al, 2008;Tarter et al, 2003;Zucker et al, 2008). Our current study examined how childhood ADHD and childhood CD predicts later adult alcoholic drinking.…”

“…Such observations have been reported by others, especially for boys . Investigators who have compared children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic parents typically fi nd more impulsivity and emotional deregulation among the offspring of alcoholics (Sher, 1991;Zucker et al, 2008). These differences between high-risk and low-risk offspring have been noted even at very early ages.…”

The National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA): A Multisite Study of Adolescent Development and Substance Use

“…Health and academic data were gathered in the demographic survey from both youth and one parent, including aspects of functioning associated with initiation of drinking in this age range (e.g., Anderson & Brown, 2011;Brown et al, 2008;Zucker et al, 2008). Most (85%) participants had Notes: NCANDA = National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence; OHSU = Oregon Health & Science University; SRI = SRI International; UPMC = University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; UCSD = University of California, San Diego.…”

“…Gaining a better understanding of alcohol use effects during this crucial developmental stage has been positioned in national scientific consciousness and federal funding initiatives over the past two decades (Brown et al, 2008;Windle et al, 2008). Cross-sectional studies have identified brain structural and functional abnormalities (Cservenka et al, 2014;De Bellis et al, 2005McQueeny et al, 2009;Nagel et al, 2005;Petit et al, 2014;Schweinsburg et al, 2010;Tapert et al, 2004), neurocognitive deficits (Brown et al, 2000;Silveri, 2014;Whelan et al, 2014;Xiao et al, 2013), and poorer psychosocial functioning (Anderson et al, 2010;Brown et al, 2008;Fergusson & Lynskey, 1996;Zucker et al, 2008) in heavydrinking adolescents relative to non-/low (NON) drinking counterparts. Deleterious effects of alcohol consumption have been associated with heavy drinking episodes (Chassin et al, 2002;McQueeny et al, 2009), defined as consuming four or more drinks on a single occasion for females and five or more drinks for males (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], 2004;Wechsler et al, 1995).…”

Parent-Child Divergence in the Development of Alcohol Use Norms from Middle Childhood into Middle Adolescence

“…Portions of this research were presented as a poster at the 32nd annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, June 20-24, 2009, San Diego, CA. † Correspondence may be sent to John E. Donovan at the above address or via email at: donovanje@upmc.edu. R ISK FACTORS FOR ADOLESCENT DRINKING can be divided into two main categories: alcohol-specifi c risk factors and general risk factors (Zucker et al, 2008). To date, there have only been a few studies of the development of alcohol-specifi c risk factors from childhood into adolescence (Andrews and Peterson, 2006;Andrews et al, 2003;Donovan et al, 2009).…”