Biomedical subjects

L Chassin

Publications and source records attributed to L Chassin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1996

The relation of parent alcoholism to adolescent substance use: a longitudinal follow-up study.

The current study tested parent alcoholism effects on growth curves of adolescent substance use and examined whether parent and peer influences, temperamental emotionality and sociability, and stress and negative affect could explain parent alcoholism effects. Longitudinal latent growth curve modeling showed that adolescents with alcoholic fathers, boys, and adolescents with drug-using peers had steeper growth in substance use over time than did adolescents without alcoholic fathers, girls, and adolescents without drug-using peers. Data were consistent with father's monitoring and stress as possible mediators of paternal alcoholism effects. However, the direct effects of paternal alcoholism on substance use growth remained significant even after including the hypothesized mediators in the model. This suggests that other (unmeasured) mediators are necessary to fully explain paternal alcoholism risk for adolescents' escalating substance use over time.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Prospective predictors of quit attempts and smoking cessation in young adults.

This study examined prospective predictors of attempts to quit smoking and successful quitting among those who attempted to quit (n = 700), using a long-term longitudinal study of the natural history of cigarette smoking in a midwestern community sample. Participants, originally surveyed in 6th-12th grade (1980-1983), were followed up in 1987 and 1994. Results showed that amount of smoking, gender, education, health beliefs about smoking, value on healthy lifestyle, motives for smoking, reasons for quitting, and occupancy of young adult social roles were significant predictors of cessation. However, there were different predictors of attempts to quit and successful quitting among those who attempted to quit. From a public health perspective, both predictors of quit attempts and predictors of successful quitting among attempters are useful targets for intervention.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood: demographic predictors of continuity and change.

The current study examined the natural history of smoking from adolescence to adulthood in a community sample. Participants were from a longitudinal study (N = 4,035, 51.7% female, average age = 29 years). Group-level analyses showed a significant increase in smoking from adolescence to young adulthood and a nonsignificant decline after the mid-20s. Individual-level analyses showed that there was appreciable cessation and relapse but little new initiation in adulthood. Both adolescent and young adult smoking status were powerful predictors of adult smoking. Moreover, there was less cessation among less educated individuals and those with smoking parents, and more cessation among those who assumed adult social roles. The findings support the importance of prevention campaigns aimed at adolescent smoking and also suggest that those with lower educational attainment or with a family history of smoking are at heightened risk.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

A longitudinal study of parenting as a protective factor for children of alcoholics.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether maternal parenting behaviors might serve to protect, or buffer, a child from the potentially negative effects associated with an alcoholic father. METHOD: This hypothesis was tested with a community sample of adolescent children of alcoholics and a demographically matched comparison group of children with nonalcoholic parents (total N = 278, 55% male). Three dimensions of parenting were considered: monitoring of child behavior, consistency of discipline, and social support. These dimensions were used in both cross-sectional and longitudinal regression analyses to predict child externalizing symptomatology, alcohol use and drug use. RESULTS: Cross-sectional results supported independent effects of parenting on child outcomes, but produced limited support for the buffering hypothesis. Longitudinal analyses revealed no prospective effects of parenting and no support for the buffering hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that both parents influence child development outcomes, but that the influence of one parent does not depend upon the influence of the other parent.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Effects of parental alcoholism and life stress on Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Caucasian adolescents: a prospective study.

Investigated ethnicity and parental alcoholism as factors that might influence the stress vulnerability of adolescents. It extended an initial cross-sectional study of this same sample by adding two annual assessments which allowed for additional cross-sectional analyses and longitudinal tests. Hispanic and Caucasian adolescents (N = 306 at Time 1) completed measures of their own life stress, family conflict, and alcohol use. Their parents reported on adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Cross-sectional analyses at Time 2, and prospective analyses involving Time 1 and Time 2 measures were, for the most part, consistent with the original study's results. Caucasian adolescents and children of alcoholic parents appeared to be more vulnerable to stress than Hispanic adolescents and children of nonalcoholic parents. Family conflict was a partial explanation for this increased vulnerability.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

A comparison of mechanisms underlying substance use for early adolescent children of alcoholics and controls.

The current study examined differences between children of alcoholics (COAs) and controls in parent monitoring, stress-negative affect, and temperament mechanisms underlying early adolescent substance use. Using structural equation modeling, we tested whether these mechanisms were equally predictive of substance use for both groups. We extended an earlier study that tested mediators of COA risk for substance use but did not examine COA status as a moderator of these mechanisms. Overall, we found no evidence of differential importance for COAs and non-COAs of the parent monitoring and negative affect mechanisms. Parental socialization and negative affect mechanisms significantly predicted adolescent substance use regardless of COA status. Differences did emerge regarding the effects of age and parent education on peer substance use and the effect of sociability on adolescent substance use.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Alcohol expectancies in early adolescents: predicting drinking behavior from alcohol expectancies and parental alcoholism.

The current study examined the role of alcohol expectancies and parental alcoholism in prospectively predicting alcohol consumption and consequences among early adolescents. We examined whether personal effects expectancies would predict "problem" alcohol use outcomes and if social effects expectancies would predict "normal" alcohol consumption. Although confirmatory factor analytic techniques showed considerable overlap between personal and social effects expectancies, we found evidence to suggest that distinctiveness between these constructs may increase at higher levels of alcohol consumption. Regression analyses supported the utility of alcohol expectancies in prospectively predicting alcohol consequences over and above pre-existing alcohol consumption, and parental alcoholism. However, there was no consistent support for the hypothesis that personal and social effects expectancies predicted different types of drinking outcomes, possibly because of the young age of the current sample.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

The stress-negative affect model of adolescent alcohol use: disaggregating negative affect.

The current study addressed three primary limitations of previous research on the relations among stress, negative affect and adolescent alcohol use. These include failure to distinguish among different types of negative affect, inattention to potential moderators of the relation between affect and alcohol use (e.g., impulsivity), and insufficient utilization of high-risk samples (e.g., children of alcoholics). In the current study, anger, anxiety and depression were found to differentially mediate the relation between stress and alcohol use, such that depression was the only significant mediator (above and beyond the effects of the other two affect measures). Impulsivity was also found to moderate the depression to alcohol use relation such that depressed, impulsive adolescents drank more heavily than depressed, nonimpulsive adolescents or nondepressed adolescents. Research implications include a need for future attention to the unique relations between forms of negative affect and alcohol use and to variables that might moderate these relations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Relation of parental support and control to adolescents' externalizing symptomatology and substance use: a longitudinal examination of curvilinear effects.

Past research has generated inconsistent findings regarding the relation of parental control and support to adolescent problem behaviors. Using two waves of data collected 1 year apart, the current study examined the influence of parental control and support on adolescents' externalizing symptoms, alcohol use, and illicit substance use. A sample of adolescents and their parents (N = 454) was studied, within which approximately half of the adolescents were at high risk because of parental alcoholism. Multiple-regression analyses of cross-sectional data showed a negative quadratic relation between parental control and adolescent externalizing symptomatology, and between parental control and adolescent illicit substance use. Parental control had a negative linear relation to adolescent alcohol use. Parental support showed a negative quadratic relation to adolescent illicit substance use, and negative linear relations to adolescent alcohol use and externalizing symptoms. Although longitudinally adjusted contemporaneous results were consistent with cross-sectional findings, parental support and control were prospectively related only to adolescent alcohol use. The quadratic relations suggest that adolescents who receive either extreme of parental support or control are at risk for problem behaviors.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Ethnic group differences in vulnerability to parental alcoholism and life stress: a study of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasian adolescents.

Tested Hispanic and Caucasian adolescents' vulnerability to parental alcoholism and life stress. Sixty-nine Hispanic and 237 Caucasian adolescents completed measures of life stress, social support, and alcohol use. Their parents reported on the adolescents' psychological symptoms and their own alcohol and substance use. Parental alcoholism and life stress were related to almost all indicators of adolescents' psychological distress and alcohol use. In addition, results showed some evidence that Caucasian adolescents were more vulnerable to the effects of life stress and parental alcoholism than Hispanics. Neither social support nor the higher substance use of Caucasian parents provided a good explanation for this differential vulnerability.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Relation of parental alcoholism to early adolescent substance use: a test of three mediating mechanisms.

The current study assessed 3 hypothesized mediating mechanisms underlying the relation between parental alcoholism and adolescent substance use. Using structural equation modeling, we analyzed data obtained from a large community sample of adolescent children of alcoholics and a demographically matched comparison group. Results suggested that parental alcoholism influenced adolescent substance use through stress and negative affect pathways, through decreased parental monitoring, and through increased temperamental emotionality (which was associated with heightened negative affect). Both negative affect and impaired parental monitoring were associated with adolescents' membership in a peer network that supported drug use behavior. The data did not support a link between parental alcoholism and temperamental sociability.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Effects of social support and conflict on adolescent children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic fathers.

Studies of positive and negative social ties usually are done in isolation of each other, precluding an understanding of their relative contributions to psychological functioning. This research evaluated the effects of adolescents' conflict with and social support from key relationships (parents, siblings, and best friends) on adolescents' self-esteem, substance use, and externalizing symptoms. Ss were 296 adolescents and their parents; 145 families had alcoholic fathers, and 151 had nonalcoholic parents. Support and conflict provided by each network member showed only a mild negative correlation. Support from parents, but not siblings or best friends, was related to adolescents' reports of substance use and externalizing. Conflict with parents was consistently related to externalizing behaviors. There was no evidence that conflict within a relationship neutralizes the effectiveness of the support it provides.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

The stress and negative affect model of adolescent alcohol use and the moderating effects of behavioral undercontrol.

Empirical evidence for the stress and negative affect model of adolescent alcohol use has been inconsistent. We hypothesized that this inconsistent support was partially due to a third variable that moderates the model's effects. The current study assessed behavioral undercontrol as a moderator of the stress and negative affect model of adolescent alcohol use. Using a community-based sample of adolescent children of alcoholics (COAs) and a demographically matched comparison group (non-COAs), life stress, negative affect, behavioral undercontrol and alcohol use were assessed. Results showed that the stress and negative affect model predicted alcohol use. Consistent with theoretical predictions and previous research, negative affect partially mediated the relation between stress and alcohol use. However, behavioral undercontrol did not moderate the effects of stress and negative affect for COAs and non-COAs. Theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Parent educational attainment and adolescent cigarette smoking.

In a longitudinal design, this study examined psychosocial mediators of the effects of parental educational attainment on adolescent smoking acquisition and also examined whether smoking transition had different antecedents among adolescents from families of varying educational backgrounds. Parents' low educational attainment acted as a moderate to strong risk factor for the initial onset of smoking among middle school girls. Some of this effect was mediated by the higher smoking prevalence among both parents and friends of these adolescent girls, as well as by their lowered expectations for academic success. However, these variables only partially mediated the effect of parent education. There were few indications of differential antecedents of smoking acquisition among adolescents from less and more highly educated families. Implications for public health antismoking campaigns are discussed.

Achievement↗

PubMed1992

Recruiting a community sample of adolescent children of alcoholics: a comparison of three subject sources.

Although there has been substantial research interest in adolescent children of alcoholics, the generalizability and consistency of previous findings have been limited by the specialized nature of the research samples (e.g., treatment samples, school-based samples). However, attempting to address this problem by recruiting subjects from community sources raises a variety of sampling issues, including the comparability and accessibility of subjects from different sources. This article compares the recruitment rates and characteristics of families enrolled from three sources--DUI records, HMO records and telephone surveys. Implications for research on children of alcoholics are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

The natural history of cigarette smoking and young adult social roles.

The relation between cigarette smoking (in adolescence and adulthood) and the occupancy of conventional adult social roles was investigated in the current study. Two alternative predictions for this relation were examined--"role incompatibility" (which predicts a negative relation between adolescent smoking and adult role occupancy) and "pseudomaturity" (which predicts a positive relation between adolescent smoking and adult role occupancy). Processes of role selection and role socialization were examined using data from a longitudinal study of smoking from adolescence to young adulthood. Both pseudomaturity and role incompatibility predictions found some support in the data, and the two views could be reconciled by considering the student role as the key transition into other adult statuses. Implications for the study of social roles and substance use are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Substance use and symptomatology among adolescent children of alcoholics.

This study assessed the magnitude and specificity of parental alcoholism as a risk factor for internalizing symptomatology, externalizing symptomatology, and alcohol and drug use in adolescence. We evaluated parents' and children's reports of symptomatology and children's reports of alcohol and drug use in a community sample of 454 adolescents. The results showed that parental alcoholism was a moderate to strong risk factor, with stronger risk associated with recent (rather than remitted) parental alcoholism. Multivariate analyses showed that the specificity of risk varied with the outcome measure. In predicting externalizing symptomatology, the risk associated with parental alcoholism was mediated by co-occurring parental psychopathology and environmental stress. However, in predicting alcohol use, the father's alcoholism was a specific risk factor above and beyond the more generalized effects of stress and family disruption.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Four pathways to young-adult smoking status: adolescent social-psychological antecedents in a midwestern community sample.

Evaluated the ability of social-psychological factors, measured in adolescence, to predict young-adult smoking outcomes. Results showed substantial continuity in the antecedents of adolescent and young-adult smoking but important discontinuities as well. Beliefs in the negative social consequences of smoking and beliefs about academic success and independence were important to adolescent but not to adult smoking. Conversely, beliefs in the negative health consequences of smoking were more important to adult smoking than to adolescent smoking. Results also showed an appreciable amount of smoking onset after the high school years, as well as an appreciable amount of adolescent smoking that did not persist into young adulthood. Antecedents of late-onset smoking and of nonpersistent smoking are described.

Achievement↗