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J Abnorm Child Psychol (2008) 36:335346 DOI 10.1007/s10802-007-9181-9
Disaggregating the Distal, Proximal, and Time-Varying Effects of Parent Alcoholism on Childrens Internalizing Symptoms
A. M. Hussong & L. Cai & P. J. Curran & D. B. Flora &
L. A. Chassin & R. A. Zucker
Published online: 20 September 2007 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract We tested whether children show greater internalizing symptoms when their parents are actively abusing alcohol. In an integrative data analysis, we combined observations over ages 2 through 17 from two longitudinal studies of children of alcoholic parents and matched controls recruited from the community. Using a mixed modeling approach, we tested whether children showed elevated mother- and child-reported internalizing symptoms(a) at the same time that parents showed alcohol-related consequences (time-varying effects), (b) if parents showed greater alcohol-related consequences during the study period (proximal effects), and (c) if parents had a lifetime diagnosis of alcoholism that predated the study period (distal effects). No support for time-varying effects was found; proximal effects of mothers alcohol-related consequences on child-reported internalizing symptoms were found and distal effects of mother and father alcoholism
predicted greater internalizing symptoms among children of alcoholic parents. Implications for the time-embedded relations between parent alcoholism and childrens internalizing symptoms are discussed.
Keywords Parent alcoholism . Internalizing symptoms . Integrative data analysis . Intergenerational transmission . Time-varying effects
Introduction
Previous studies of children of alcoholic parents (COAs) document an elevated risk not only for the early onset of symptoms beginning in childhood (e.g., Edwards et al. 2001; Loukas et al. 2001; Puttler et al. 1998; Tubman 1993) but also for troubling developmental trajectories that indicate a continuance of risk for symptom disturbance and disorder. Such trajectory-based analyses are increasingly common in developmental studies of risk factors for child psychopathology. Most of these studies adopt a launch or catapult model in which risk factors assessed at baseline are evaluated as static predictors of change over time in child outcomes (Kinderman and Skinner 1992). Within studies of COAs, these trajectory analyses show that parent alcoholism is associated with higher rates and faster escalation in substance use over time (e.g., Chassin et al. 1996). On the other hand, parent alcoholism does not predict changes in childrens internalizing symptoms or social competence over time...