A mediational model of the impact of interparental conflict on child adjustment in a multiethnic, low-income sample.

Path analysis was used to determine whether the effects of interparental conflict on children's depression and conduct disorder are mediated by 3 dimensions of parenting: acceptance, inconsistent discipline, and hostile control. The study extends the literature by testing this mediational model with a low-income, predominantly ethnic minority sample of preadolescent children and by examining the effects of multiple dimensions of interparental conflict from the child's perspective. Results supported the mediational model when analyses were based on child's reports of all variables but not when mother's reports were used to assess child depression and conduct problems. Exploratory analyses revealed unique mediational paths associated with conflict frequency and resolution, which were examined along with intensity as distinct dimensions of interparental conflict.

The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood in a midwestern community sample: multiple trajectories and their psychosocial correlates.

Previous research on the natural history of smoking has focused on overall group trajectories without considering the possibility of risk subgroup variation. To address this limitation, the authors of the present study aimed to identify subgroups with varying trajectories of smoking behavior. The authors accomplished this within a cohort-sequential study of a large community sample (N = 8,556) with measurements spanning ages 11-31. After removing 2 a priori groups (abstainers and erratics), the authors empirically identified 4 trajectory groups--early stable smokers, late stable smokers, experimenters, and quitters--and psychosocial variables from adolescence and young adulthood were significantly distinguished among them. Given recent advances in quantitative methods, it is now feasible to consider subgroups of trajectories within an overall longitudinal design.

A longitudinal study of children of alcoholics: predicting young adult substance use disorders, anxiety, and depression.

This study tested the specificity of parent alcoholism effects on young adult alcohol and drug abuse/dependence, anxiety, and depression, and tested whether adolescent symptomatology and substance use mediated parent alcoholism effects. Participants were from a longitudinal study in which a target child was assessed in adolescence and young adulthood with structured interview measures (N = 454 families at Time 1). Results showed unique effects of parent alcoholism on young adult substance abuse/dependence diagnoses over and above the effects of other parental psychopathology. There was some evidence of parent alcoholism effects on young adult depression and of maternal alcoholism effects on young adult anxiety, although these were not found consistently across subsamples. Mediational models suggested that parent alcoholism effects could be partially (but not totally) explained by adolescent externalizing symptoms.

The relation of adolescent substance use to young adult autonomy, positive activity involvement, and perceived competence.

The current paper uses data from a longitudinal study of a high-risk sample to test the relation between adolescent alcohol and drug use and later young adult autonomy, positive activity involvement, and perceived competence. Participants (children of alcoholics and demographically matched controls) were assessed in three annual interviews in adolescence (mean age: 12.7 years at Time 1) and then again 5-7 years later, in young adulthood (median age: 20 years). Path analyses and latent growth curve models tested the effects of adolescent substance use on both self-reported and collateral-reported outcomes, controlling for correlated risk factors (parental alcoholism, adolescent psychopathology, and parental support), preexisting levels of the outcome, and concurrent young adult substance use. Results showed that adolescent drug use had a significant, unique negative effect on later autonomy and perceived competence. Alcohol use effects were more complex. Adolescent heavy drinking was associated with less positive adult outcomes, but more so in collateral reports than in self-reported outcomes. Moreover, young adult heavy drinking was either uncorrelated with or positively correlated with higher levels of perceived competence, suggesting different developmental significance of alcohol use in adolescence than in young adulthood.