Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 May 1:138:161-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.02.023. Epub 2014 Feb 26.

General and substance-specific predictors of young adult nicotine dependence, alcohol use disorder, and problem behavior: replication in two samples

J A Bailey  1 , D R Samek  2 , M A Keyes  2 , K G Hill  3 , B M Hicks  4 , M McGue  2 , W G Iacono  2 , M Epstein  3 , R F Catalano  3 , K P Haggerty  3 , J D Hawkins  3
Affiliations

General and substance-specific predictors of young adult nicotine dependence, alcohol use disorder, and problem behavior: replication in two samples

J A Bailey et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. .

Abstract

Background: This paper presents two replications of a heuristic model for measuring environment in studies of gene-environment interplay in the etiology of young adult problem behaviors.

Methods: Data were drawn from two longitudinal, U.S. studies of the etiology of substance use and related behaviors: the Raising Healthy Children study (RHC; N=1040, 47% female) and the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS; N=1512, 50% female). RHC included a Pacific Northwest, school-based, community sample. MTFS included twins identified from state birth records in Minnesota. Both studies included commensurate measures of general family environment and family substance-specific environments in adolescence (RHC ages 10-18; MTFS age 18), as well as young adult nicotine dependence, alcohol and illicit drug use disorders, HIV sexual risk behavior, and antisocial behavior (RHC ages 24, 25; MTFS age 25).

Results: Results from the two samples were highly consistent and largely supported the heuristic model proposed by Bailey et al. (2011). Adolescent general family environment, family smoking environment, and family drinking environment predicted shared variance in problem behaviors in young adulthood. Family smoking environment predicted unique variance in young adult nicotine dependence. Family drinking environment did not appear to predict unique variance in young adult alcohol use disorder.

Conclusions: Organizing environmental predictors and outcomes into general and substance-specific measures provides a useful way forward in modeling complex environments and phenotypes. Results suggest that programs aimed at preventing young adult problem behaviors should target general family environment and family smoking and drinking environments in adolescence.

Keywords: Alcohol misuse; Measuring environment for GxE; Nicotine dependence; Problem behavior; Replication.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Dr. Catalano serves on the board of Channing Bete Company, which owns portions of the Raising Healthy Children intervention mentioned here. All other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structural equation modeling results for RHC sample: standardized coefficients. Nonsignificant paths are not shown for readability. ND = nicotine dependence, AUD = alcohol use disorder, IDUD = illicit drug use disorder.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structural equation modeling results for MTFS sample: standardized coefficients. Nonsignificant paths are not shown for readability. Co-twin smoking and drinking were correlated, as were parent smoking and drinking; these paths were omitted to improve readability of the figure. ND = nicotine dependence, AUD = alcohol use disorder, IDUD = illicit drug use disorder, AAB = adult antisocial behavior.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4. American Psychiatric Association; Washington, DC: 1994.
    1. Bailey JA, Hill KG, Meacham MC, Young SE, Hawkins JD. Strategies for characterizing complex phenotypes and environments: general and specific family environmental predictors of young adult tobacco dependence, alcohol use disorder, and co-occurring problems. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2011;118:444–451. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bailey JA, Hill KG, Oesterle S, Hawkins JD. Linking substance use and problem behavior across three generations. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2006;34:273–292. - PubMed
    1. Bakker M, van Dijk A, Wicherts JM. The rules of the game called psychological science. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2012;7:543–554. - PubMed
    1. Blomeyer D, Treutlein J, Esser G, Schmidt MH, Schumann G, Laucht M. Interaction between CRHR1 gene and stressful life events predicts adolescent heavy alcohol use. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;63:146–151. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources