EARLY ADOLESCENT GATEWAY DRUG-USE IN SONS OF FATHERS WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

This study determined the relevance of preadolescent psychopathology a nd substance use for predicting early adolescent alcohol and cannabis involvement in boys of fathers with and without substance use disorder s (SUD). Fathers of preadolescent boys (ages 10 through 12 years) were recruited to represent families of boys with paternal SUD (High Risk or HR: N = 102) and boys without paternal SUD (Low Average Risk or LAR : n = 166). These boys and a parental informant participated in semist ructured diagnostic interviews at baseline and 2-year follow-up assess ments (ages 12 through 14 years). Preadolescent tobacco experimentatio n and early adolescent regular alcohol use were more prevalent in HR t han in LAR subjects. Logistic regression analyses were utilized to dev elop prediction equations. The presence of oppositional defiant disord er and the absence of anxiety disorders predicted preadolescent tobacc o use. Preadolescent conduct disorder predicted early adolescent regul ar alcohol use. Preadolescent tobacco use and conduct disorder were hi ghly predictive of early adolescent cannabis use, achieving 100% sensi tivity with 76% specificity. Children with tobacco use prior to adoles cence, as well as those with disruptive behavior disorders, may be imp ortant to target for interventions to prevent cannabis use. (C) 1998 E lsevier Science Ltd.