Interrelationship between family history of alcoholism and generational status in the prediction of alcohol dependence in US Hispanics

Abstract

Background Both a family history of alcoholism and migration-related factors like U.S. versus foreign nativity increase the risk for developing alcohol use disorders in Hispanic Americans. For this study, we integrated these two lines of research to test whether the relationship between familial alcoholism and alcohol dependence changes with successive generations in the U.S. Methods Data were from the wave 1 and wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). Subjects self-identified Hispanic ethnicity (N = 4,122; n = 1,784 first, n = 1,169 second, and n = 1,169 third or later generation) and reported ever consuming 12 or more drinks in a one-year period. A family history of alcoholism was assessed in first and second degree relatives. Analyses predicting the number of alcohol dependence symptoms were path models. Results Alcohol dependence symptoms were associated with a stronger family history of alcoholism and later generational status. There was a significant interaction effect between familial alcoholism and generational status; the relationship of familial alcoholism with alcohol dependence symptoms increased significantly with successive generations in the U.S., more strongly in women than men. Acculturation partially mediated the interaction effect between familial alcoholism and generational status on alcohol dependence, although not in the expected direction. Conclusions Familial alcoholism interacted with generational status in predicting alcohol dependence symptoms in U.S. Hispanic drinkers. This relationship suggests that heritability for alcoholism is influenced by a higher order environmental factor, likely characterized by a relaxing of social restrictions on drinking.

Alcohol use in Tanzanians with chronic psychotic disorders and poor medication adherence

“… 54 , 55 The observed association between moderate to high risk alcohol consumption and family history of substance abuse is consistent with a large body of work suggesting family history as a predictor of substance abuse. 56 , 57 Finally, male predominance in patients reporting moderate to high risk alcohol consumption is consistent with that observed in other populations throughout Tanzania, 55 , 58 , 59 including the previous study involving Tanzanian psychiatric patients. 31 Women with schizophrenia have been found to have lower rates of substance abuse across many diverse regions of the world.…”

“…In addition, 9% of the study population were almost certainly dependent on alcohol, whilst only 2.4% of the general population were predicted to have alcohol dependency. 58 Although such comparisons are crude, they provide an important sociocultural context. The trend that those with CPD have higher rates of substance abuse than the general public is consistent with that seen in westernised countries.…”

Patterns and perception of alcohol drinking among the Lahu people, Northern Thailand

“…Asking a child to buy alcohol beverage was associated with starting alcohol drinking among the youth, and this presented the chance to drink alcohol, unlike those families that prohibit drinking or those families that have a rule of no drinking for their children. This agrees with the study of Chartier et al [16] which found that those people who were alcohol addicts had a family member with alcoholism. Furthermore, the behavior modeling of Bandura et al [17] confirmed that young children learn behavior from their parents.…”

Intersection of familial risk and environmental social control on high-risk drinking and alcohol dependence in a US national sample of adults

“…( Karriker-Jaffe et al, 2012 , Jones-Webb et al, 1997 , Glass et al, 2017 , Zemore et al, 2016 ) More proximal social factors may have a greater relative importance for dependence among Hispanic individuals than area-level factors. In fact, other studies have suggested that FH and US generational status are important factors in understanding alcohol dependence among Hispanic drinkers, ( Chartier et al, 2017 ) however, whether generational status and area-level factors are interdependent remains to be explored in more detail.…”