Early adolescent psychopathology as a predictor of alcohol use disorders by young adulthoodDrug and Alcohol Dependence Volume 88, Supplement 1, April 2007, Pages S38-S49
Psychiatric Predictors of Early Drug Use and Abuse
Dustin Pardinia, , E-mail: dap38@pitt.edu
Helene Raskin Whiteb and
Magda Stouthamer-Loeberc
aUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 201 N. Craig St., Sterling Building Suite 408, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
bCenter of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
cWestern Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Received 1 June 2006; accepted 20 December 2006. Available online 25 January 2007.
Abstract
Few prospective studies have examined the relation between early adolescent conduct disorder (CD) symptoms and the development of alcohol use disorders (AUD) by young adulthood.
The relative contribution of other forms of adolescent psychopathology (i.e., attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety/withdrawal) to the development of AUD also remains poorly understood. There is some suggestion that the co-occurrence of conduct disorder symptoms with other forms of psychopathology may interact synergistically in predicting later alcohol use problems.
The current study explores these issues using data on 506 boys from the oldest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS).
Consistent with prior research, early conduct disorder symptoms emerged as a consistent predictor of increased AUD symptoms and an alcohol dependence diagnosis by young adulthood.
In contrast, adolescent boys with high levels of anxiety/withdrawal had lower levels of AUD symptoms and were less likely to develop alcohol dependence by young adulthood.
Increased depression in early adolescence was associated with higher AUD symptoms and alcohol abuse and dependence diagnoses by young adulthood, but only for boys with high levels of conduct disorder symptoms.
No evidence was found for a relation between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and AUD symptoms or diagnoses after controlling for co-occurring psychopathology.
