Introduction to the special section on the intergenerational transmission of risk for substance use.

Abstract

Six original research papers were submitted to this Special Section to address questions regarding the intergenerational transmission of risk for cannabis and other substance use. Study teams recruited youth in Iowa, Washington, Oregon, New York, and Arizona in the 1980s-1990s, assessed them into adulthood, and recruited their partners and offspring for another study. All of the studies assessed substance use in 2 or more generations. Other strengths in this section include the strong representation of fathers, the demographic diversity of the samples as a whole, and the demonstrations of varied statistical and replication approaches. The findings highlight features of parental histories of cannabis use during adolescence that are associated with their children's risk for cannabis use and factors that explain or weaken intergenerational similarities. Two groups of prevention scholars also offered commentaries on the implications of these studies for prevention and training, and collaboration. It is hoped that the Special Section will stimulate new hypotheses, replications, and communication among etiological and prevention researchers. Furthermore, the papers highlight that the familial transmission of substance use risk should be taken into account more fully in the design of prevention programs to maximize impacts for youth as well as their future offspring.

On the Intergenerational Transmission of Health Inequality

“…The worst thing is its transmissible property between generations. As the case indicated above, addicted objects like tobacco products can get the addicting behavior passed on from parental generation to children, which unavoidably threatens sound health (86)(87)(88). We herein do not talk about the potential underlying mechanisms of addiction but the debilitating effect of addiction on health that transmits intergenerationally.…”

The future of intergenerational transmission research: A prospective, three-generation approach

“…We encourage continued assessment of any prospective, longitudinal cohort of G2 individuals who have been followed with their G1 parents into the next generation, even if capturing G2 over pregnancy and early parenting of G3 is not feasible. Ideally, this work would involve large scale, representative studies and/or harmonization across smaller cohort studies, a practice already well-reflected in the approximately one dozen existing prospective, three-generation studies (see Branje et al, 2020;Breton et al, 2021;Kerr & Capaldi, 2020;Scorza et al, 2019). Two of these are part of the larger United States (U.S.) National Institutes of Health's Environmental Influences on Children's Health Outcomes (ECHO) study, a 7-year initiative which draws on 84 existing cohorts to prospectively examine the role of early experiences on child health and development (Scorza et al, 2019).…”

Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality in Psychological Health

“…Research evidences also point towards an increased risk of substance use in offsprings due to intergenerational transmission (57,58). Provision of alcohol by parents for the adolescent (59), alcohol use by parents, relational factors of the parent-child relationship (60), family conflict and positive attitudes of parents towards alcohol use (61) are some of the identified risk factors for alcohol use among offsprings of children with parents with a history of substance use.…”