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
. 2018 Aug;63(2):205-212.
doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.014.

Intergenerational Continuity in Substance Abuse: Does Offspring's Friendship Network Make a Difference?

Kimberly L Henry  1 , Celia J Fulco  2 , Della V Agbeke  2 , Anastasia M Ratcliff  3
Affiliations

Intergenerational Continuity in Substance Abuse: Does Offspring's Friendship Network Make a Difference?

Kimberly L Henry et al. J Adolesc Health. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: A parental history of substance abuse is a key risk factor for offspring's substance abuse. Identification of factors that may mitigate this effect is prerequisite to promoting resilience. In this study, we consider the substance use of peers in an adolescent's friendship network as a potential moderator of intergenerational continuity in substance abuse.

Methods: Prospective, longitudinal data from the Rochester Youth Development Study and the Rochester Intergenerational Study for 246 father-child dyads and 167 mother-child dyads were utilized. Ordinal generalized estimating equations were specified to examine the moderating role of friend's substance use in the relationship between parental substance use disorder and child's substance abuse between the ages of 13 and 17.

Results: Father's substance use disorder was associated with an increased risk of substance abuse by his child. Moreover, the harmful effect of paternal substance abuse on child's abuse of substances was apparent only when some or most of the child's friends used substances. Maternal substance use disorder was extremely rare in the sample and was not found to be associated with child's substance abuse, irrespective of the substance use of friends.

Conclusions: The intergenerational transmission of risk for substance abuse between father and child was mitigated when children were not exposed to friends who use substances, and exacerbated when children had substantial exposure to substance-using friends. Preventing the child's association with substance-using peers may be particularly important for children with this type of familial risk.

Keywords: Intergenerational continuity; Parent–child relationships; Peer substance use; Protective factor; Risk, Resilience; Substance abuse.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
The association of friends’ use of substances and child’s use of substances by G2 father substance use disorder status
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
The association of friends’ use of substances and child’s use of substances by G2 mother substance use disorder status
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Differential effect of paternal substance use disorder on children’s abuse of substances as a function of friends’ use of substances
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Merikangas KR, Li JJ, Stipelman B, et al. The familial aggregation of cannabis use disorders. Addiction. 2009;104(4):622–629. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hussong A, Bauer D, Chassin L. Telescoped trajectories from alcohol initiation to disorder in children of alcoholic parents. J Abnorm Psychol. 2008;117(1):63–78. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chassin L, Haller M, Lee MR et al. Familial factors influencing offspring substance use and dependence In: The Oxford handbook of substance use and substance use disorders. (Sher KJ, ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2016: 449–482.
    1. Grant BF, Goldstein RB, Saha TD, et al. Epidemiology of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder: Results from the National Epidemoiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions III. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015;72(8):757–766. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grant BF, Saha TD, Ruan WJ, et al. Epidemiology of DSM-5 drug use disorder: Results from the National Epidemoiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions III. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(1):39–45. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types