COLLABORATIVE ALCOHOL-RELATED LONGITUDINAL PROJECT

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The purpose of this study is to bring together multiple longitudinal data sets to analyze the same research questions in tandem. The questions include the following. (1) Rates of prevalence, incidence and chronicity of drinking patterns and problems will be examined by age and sex to test the hypothesis that the incidence and chronicity of drinking patterns and problems vary as a function of age and are equivalent across birth cohorts, historical, periods and cultures. (2) Prediction of incidence and chronicity will be examined within particular age strata across studies as a function of change in selected sociological, psychological, and biological variables. (3) Prediction of adult drinking problems will be assessed on the basis of antisocial behavior measured in childhood and adolescence across cultures to determine if studies replicate these findings or if they are culturally specific. (4) Prediction of adult drinking problems will be assessed on the basis of parental drinking (including alcoholism) in two longitudinal research designs (general population and adoptee studies). Interdisciplinary teams will work on both designs in the effort to generate interactive findings. (5) Assessment of environmental-historical factors will take place by using existing longitudinal studies to examine the social and economic conditions under which they were performed. This will enable studies to be used as "controls" for each other as incidence and chronicity of drinking patterns and problems are evaluated by age and sex. These questions are set in the context of better understanding the interrelationships between chronological age, historical period and culture as they relate to alcohol use in the life cycle. Since the data sets represent studies from different birth cohorts, historical periods and cultural groups, the questions address these confounding factors by contrasting and systematically comparing their findings. A synthesis of these studies will enable assessment of maturational factors as hypothetically distinct from the confounding factors listed above. In this way, a cross-study approach will enable effective generalization of findings from the alcohol-related literature.