Family Study of African Americans

这是一项为期五年的研究，基于父母酗酒的历史，对8-17岁的黑人儿童进行了与酒精相关问题的高风险和低风险的研究。一项前瞻性设计被用来确定这些儿童处于高度脆弱状态的具体障碍，以及各种儿童障碍发展过程中的显著风险和保护过程。 这项研究的主要目标是： 1.调查黑人酗酒父母的8-17岁子女的精神病理和行为问题的程度和模式； 2.评估酗酒/依赖的家族传播和包括药物滥用/依赖在内的共病精神病理在儿童酗酒的发病机制中的作用；以及 3.确定黑人青年酒精问题发病的多个风险和保护性指标，以提供关于预防和干预的关键目标的信息。 这项研究的主要特点是：数据稀少的有幼儿的黑酒滥用者样本；样本的流行病学来源，这加强了研究结果的概括性，最大限度地减少了从专门治疗环境中确定少数群体的偏见；采用流行病学家庭研究范式，从而能够评估与家庭传播风险因素相关的因素及其机制；评估焦虑症和酗酒在传播与酒精有关的问题中的作用；从广泛领域或包括个人、家庭和环境属性(包括社区暴力)在内的风险对易受伤害因素进行全面评估；通过评估可能抑制高危儿童致病过程的保护因素，提供预防所必需的知识。 这项研究的数据收集是在首席研究员S搬到国立卫生研究院之前在耶鲁大学完成的。我们这一科的资源专门用于编写这些数据，以供分析和随后出版。这项研究为开展精神障碍和药物滥用的社会流行病学研究提供了一个模型。在过去的一年里，我们已经完成了数据清理和编码。数据现已准备就绪，可用于对关键研究问题进行统计分析。

This was a five year study of black children ages 8-17 at high and low risk for alcohol-related problems based on a history of parental alcoholism. A prospective design was used to identify the specific disorders for which these children are at heightened vulnerability, and salient risk and protective processes in the development of the various types of childhood disorders. The major goals of the study were: 1. to examine the extent and patterns of psychopathology and behavioral problems among the offspring ages 8-17 of black alcoholic parents; 2. to assess the role of familial transmission of alcohol abuse/dependence and comorbid psychopathology, including substance abuse/dependence, in the pathogenesis of alcohol abuse in children; and 3. to identify multiple risk and protective indices of the pathogenesis of alcohol problems in black youth in order to yield information on the key targets of prevention and intervention. The key features of the study were: the sample of black alcohol abusers with young children about which there are sparse data; the epidemiologic source of the sample, which strengthened the generalizability of the findings and minimizes the bias in ascertainment of minorities from specialty treatment settings; the application of an epidemiologic family study paradigm, which permitted assessment of factors associated with familial transmission of risk factors and the mechanisms thereof; evaluation of the role of comorbidity of anxiety disorders and alcoholism in the transmission of alcohol-related problems; comprehensive assessment of vulnerability factors from broad domains or risk encompassing personal, family, and environmental attributes including community violence; the provision of knowledge essential for prevention through the assessment of protective factors which may inhibit pathogenic processes among children at high risk. Data collection of this study was completed at Yale University before the Principal Investigator?s relocation to the NIMH. The resources of our section have been devoted to preparation of these data for analysis and subsequent publications. This research provides a model for conducting studies of social epidemiology of mental disorders and substance abuse. During the past year, we have completed data cleaning and coding. The data are now ready for statistical analyses of the key study questions.