Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder moderates the life stress pathway to alcohol problems in children of alcoholics.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Parent alcoholism is a well-established risk factor for the development of pathological alcohol involvement in youth, and life stress is considered to be one of the central mechanisms of the parent alcoholism effect; however, little is known about the moderators of the life stress pathway. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has also been shown to predict pathological alcohol involvement, however, little is known about whether or not ADHD interacts with parent alcoholism to increase offspring risk. The goals of this study were to examine stressful life events as mediators of the relationship between parent alcoholism and adolescent pathological alcohol involvement, and to examine whether or not this mediated pathway was stronger for adolescents with ADHD than for adolescents without ADHD.

METHOD:
Participants were 142 adolescents with a childhood ADHD diagnosis (probands) and 100 demographically matched control adolescents without childhood ADHD. Probands, controls, and at least 1 parent were interviewed about drinking behavior; probands and controls were interviewed about negative life events.

RESULTS:
A moderated mediation paradigm was used to test the hypotheses using ordinary least squares regression. Results showed that the relationships between parent alcoholism and 2 of the stress variables ("family" stress and "peer" stress) were significant for probands only, and that stress in the probands mediated the parent alcoholism effect on offspring alcohol involvement.

CONCLUSIONS:
These results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that offspring characteristics might moderate the life stress pathway to alcoholism, and indicate that ADHD may serve to facilitate the transmission of pathological alcohol use from parent to child.

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Author information

Author/s: Marshal, Michael P (MP); Molina, Brooke S G (BS); Pelham, William E (WE); Cheong, JeeWon (J);

Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. marshalmp(-atsign-)upmc.edu

Grants: AA00202 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS) ; AA015100 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS) ; AA0626 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS) ; AA08746 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS) ; AA11873 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS) ; AA12342 (Agency:NIAAA NIH HHS) ; DA05605 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; DA12414 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; ES0515-08 (Agency:NIEHS NIH HHS) ; F31DA017546 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; MH12010 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH45576 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH47390 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH4815 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH50467 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH53554 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research (Alcohol Clin Exp Res), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Apr; vol 31 (issue 4) : pp 564-74

Dates: Created 2007/03/21; Completed 2007/05/02; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 17374035, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Alcoholism - psychology
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology
Child
Child of Impaired Parents - psychology
Family - psychology
Female
Humans

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