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Although drinking during adolescence is not uncommon (and generally not a precursor of future abuse or dependence), early onset of alcohol use has been associated with a constellation of other problem behaviors and may be a marker for more serious developmental outcomes. This research explores the relationship between drinking and aggression/delinquency. Data are from adolescent participants in the prospective Michigan - Michigan State Longitudinal Study (i.e., a group of adolescent children of alcoholics and an ecologically comparable group of adolescents from families without alcoholic parents). It is hypothesized that early onset is associated with a hard-continuity model of problem behavior, with stronger autostability between aggression/delinquency from the preschool years and middle childhood through early adolescence among early drinkers versus non-drinkers. Notably, this would be consistent with Moffitt's developmental theory and Zucker's risk-cumulative, nested model. Exploratory findings of causal models will be discussed in relation to contextual regulators (i.e., mediators) of the hard-continuity hypothesis. (Supported by NIAAA Grant 2R01AA07065) |
Updated 05/20/2006