Fathers’ Alcohol and Cannabis Use Disorder and Early Onset of Drug Use by Their Children

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Prior research documents intergenerational (IG) continuity in marijuana use, with most work adopting a life course perspective. Incorporating a methodology that allows for the measurement of "patterns of behavior" instead of singular aspects of parent marijuana use (e.g., age of onset or frequency at any one age or ages), we investigated the simultaneous effects of parental age of onset, frequency, and duration of marijuana use across 3 periods of the life course (i.e., adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood) on the timing of first marijuana use among offspring. Using prospective data from 2 companion studies, the Rochester Youth Development Study and the Rochester Intergenerational Study, we used group-based trajectory models to estimate trajectories (or patterns) of parental marijuana use spanning ages 14 to 31 among a birth cohort of 462 parents. We then examined the relationship between parental trajectories of marijuana use and the timing of the onset of marijuana use through age 25 among firstborn offspring. Both late-onset persistent use by parents and increasing chronic use spanning adolescence to adulthood by parents were associated with an increased likelihood of onset of marijuana use among offspring. The results underscore the importance of patterns of marijuana use for IG continuity in contrast to singular measures (e.g., age of onset among parents), which can obfuscate important IG patterns of continuity. Prevention and intervention programs should consider the entire history of parent use to better identify children most at risk for the onset of marijuana use in adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Section: Intergenerational Continuity In Marijuana Usesupporting

confidence: 61%

Intergenerational marijuana use: A life course examination of the relationship between parental trajectories of marijuana use and the onset of marijuana use by offspring.

Augustyn¹,

Loughran²,

Larroulet³

et al. 2020

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“…In all models that included offspring data, standard errors were estimated using a sandwich estimator in Mplus Version 8.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017 to account for the dependence among siblings' scores. As background for tests of our research questions, nine discrete-time survival analysis (DTSA; Muthén & Masyn, 2005) models were fit to separately describe fathers', boys', and girls' onset on each of the three substance.…”

Section: Analytic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Next, the number of substances mothers used as adolescents (indicating use of ATM) was included as a predictor of the fathers' adolescent ATM use onset classes. The R3STEP procedure was used in Mplus Version 8 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017 to account for uncertainty in fathers' adolescent ATM use onset classes. Of note, using the R3STEP procedure ensured that the fathers' classes were estimated prior to including mothers' adolescent ATM use as a predictor (i.e., mothers' ATM use did not influence class solution).…”

Section: Associations Of Mothers' and Fathers' Adolescent Polysubstan...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Bailey, Hill, Oesterle, and Hawkins (2006) found that a latent score of parental substance use (binge drinking, tobacco, and marijuana use) when children were aged 13–14 years explained most of the variance in a similar latent score of offspring substance use at ages 15–18 years. Focusing on more serious problems, however, Henry (2017) found that when fathers’ lifetime histories of alcohol and cannabis use disorders were considered simultaneously, only the latter was associated with their children’s early alcohol or cannabis use.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intergenerational congruence in adolescent onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use.

Kerr¹,

Tiberio²,

Capaldi³

et al. 2020

We examined alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana (ATM) use onset across early to late adolescence in a sample of fathers and their offspring. We tested a theory of developmental congruence in polysubstance use, or the extent to which fathers’ ATM use onset in early adolescence increased risk for earlier ATM onset by their offspring. Average rates of adolescent ATM use onset were also compared across generations, which may reflect intergenerational discontinuity and secular trends. Children (n = 223, 44% boys) and their fathers (n = 113; originally recruited as boys at neighborhood risk for delinquency) contributed repeated prospective self-reports of their ATM use across adolescence (as late as age 18 years). Mothers’ ATM use (retrospective) through age 18 years was available for 205 children. Data were analyzed using discrete-time survival mixture analysis. Compared with their fathers, boys and girls showed later onset for tobacco use, and girls showed later onset alcohol use. Developmental congruence was partially supported: Children showed earlier ATM use onset if their fathers were assigned to the early adolescent polysubstance use onset class, compared to the late-adolescent predominantly alcohol and tobacco onset class; mothers’ ATM use in adolescence attenuated this effect. Consistent with national secular trends, rates of adolescent onset tobacco and alcohol use declined across generations, whereas marijuana use onset did not. However, there was intergenerational transmission of risk for early polysubstance use onset. Prevention that delays early substance use may have early life span effects as well as transgenerational implications.

“…The legalization of marijuana use in 10 states and the District of Columbia is reflected in public perception that adult use is not harmful and does not need to be curtailed (Wills, Sandy, Yaeger, & Shinar, 2001). Indeed, unlike the documented negative consequences of marijuana use among adolescents (Volkow, Baler, Compton, & Weiss, 2014), the consequences of infrequent adult marijuana use to adults are relatively few (Cranford, Zucker, Jester, Puttler, & Fitzgerald, 2010; Henry, 2017; Wills et al, 2001). However, many adults are parents, and recent studies showed that marijuana use among parents has also increased (Henry & Augustyn, 2017; Kosterman et al, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An intergenerational investigation of the associations between parental marijuana use trajectories and child functioning.

Epstein

Bailey

Furlong

et al. 2020

Diverse patterns of life-course marijuana use may have differential health impacts for the children of users. Data are drawn from an intergenerational study of 426 families that included a parent, their oldest biological child, and (where appropriate) another caregiver who were interviewed 10 times from 2002 to 2018; the current study used data from 380 families in waves 6–10. Analyses linked parent marijuana use trajectories estimated in a previous publication (Epstein et al., 2015) to child marijuana, alcohol, and nicotine use; promarijuana norms; internalizing; externalizing; attention problems; and grades using multilevel modeling among children ages 6 to 21. Four trajectories had been found in the previous study: nonuser, chronic, adolescent-limited, and late-onset. Results indicate that children of parents in the groups that initiated marijuana use in adolescence (chronic and adolescent-limited) were most likely to use substances. Children of parents in the late-onset group, where parents initiated use in young adulthood, were not at increased risk for substance use but were more likely to have attention problems and lower grades. Results held when parent current marijuana use was added to the models. Implications of this work highlight the importance of considering both current use and use history in intergenerational transmission of marijuana use, and the need to address parent use history in family based prevention. Prevention of adolescent marijuana use remains a priority.