Intergenerational continuity in alcohol misuse: Maternal alcohol use disorder and the sequelae of maternal and family functioning.

Abstract

Early onset of alcohol use is associated with a host of detrimental outcomes. As such, understanding the complex etiology of early onset alcohol use for prevention purposes is an important goal. Specific environmental stressors within the family (i.e., financial stress, negative parental well-being and negative family climate) heighten the risk of early onset alcohol use; however, the extent to which these factors are set in motion by prior maternal history of alcohol misuse has yet to be investigated. We used prospective, longitudinal data from 385 mother-child dyads to examine the link between a maternal alcohol use disorder and her child's early onset of alcohol use through the sequelae of maternal financial strain, maternal depressive symptoms, maternal excessive alcohol use, and negative family climate. Results indicate that a maternal alcohol use disorder itself, and the confluence of a maternal alcohol use disorder, subsequent financial strain, and depressive symptoms produce a negative family climate. In turn, a negative family climate increases the likelihood of alcohol use by the age of 15 among offspring. Moreover, we demonstrate that the cascade of consequences on maternal and family functioning linking a maternal alcohol use disorder to her child's early onset of alcohol use is proximal in nature, unfolding concurrently rather than in yearly spans of time. We discuss the implications of these findings with respect to the etiology of early onset alcohol use (and extant theoretical models) and prevention programming.

Parental Alcohol Use and the Alcohol Misuse of their Offspring in a Finnish Birth Cohort: Investigation of Developmental Timing

“…Interestingly, lifetime history of maternal alcohol use disorder when PARENTAL ALCOHOL USE 5 children were age 9 was not related to past year maternal alcohol use when children were ages 9, 10, or 11. Past year maternal alcohol use when children were age 11 was not directly related to child early onset of alcohol use (Johnson et al, 2019). Together, these studies indicate that, after accounting for parents' lifetime history of alcohol use through late childhood, parents' use during adolescence may not be directly related to adolescents' alcohol use.…”

“…Tran et al (2018) found high levels of stability in mothers' alcohol use over a 14-year period for mothers who abstained from alcohol use or drank at low levels during the prenatal period. Mothers' alcohol use was also highly stable when children were ages 9 to 11 in an intergenerational study of the sequelae of maternal and family functioning (Johnson et al, 2019). In another intergenerational study, fathers' alcohol use was found to be moderately stable from their own adolescence to adulthood (Kerr et al, 2012).…”

“…Mothers' and fathers' alcohol use were found to be stable from the prenatal period to adolescence. These findings are notable because surprisingly few studies have examined the stability of both mothers' and fathers' alcohol use over time, especially over an extended period of time (Johnson et al, 2019;Kerr et al, 2012;Liu, Mumford, & Petras, 2015;Tran, Clavarino, Williams & Najman, 2018). Tran et al (2018) found high levels of stability in mothers' alcohol use over a 14-year period for mothers who abstained from alcohol use or drank at low levels during the prenatal period.…”

“…Importantly, neither mothers' nor fathers' past year alcohol use disorder symptoms was related to either adolescents' alcohol use or adolescents' heavy drinking. In another study, lifetime history of maternal alcohol use disorder when children were age 9 was not directly related to children's early onset of alcohol use (age 11;Johnson, Fulco, & Augustyn, 2019). Lifetime history of maternal alcohol use disorder was related to children's early onset of alcohol use indirectly through several mechanisms including financial strain, maternal depressive symptoms, and negative family climate.…”

“I Grew Up Amidst Alcohol and Drugs:” a Qualitative Study on the Lived Experiences of Parental Substance Use Among Adults Who Developed Substance Use Disorders Themselves

“…Experiencing parental substance use (PSU) has been particularly associated with a heightened risk of developing SUDs in offspring (3,(52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57). Since PSU may impede parenting and the provision of a nurturing environment (58)(59)(60), the role of environmental and household stressors in the heightened risk of substance use continuation across generations has increasingly gained attention, with a particular focus on parental influences (e.g., parenting skills, parental inhibitory control, parental monitoring and discipline, parental modeling, harsh parenting) (42,56,(61)(62)(63)(64)(65).…”