Development of Substance Use in Girls

描述（由申请人提供）：对女性物质使用、物质相关问题和物质使用障碍（SUD）的长期发展了解甚少。至少在两个方面，女性似乎更容易受到药物滥用和依赖相比，男性：他们表现出更快速的发展，从使用SUD的发病，和更高的倾向，发展共病的精神病理学。此外，与男性相比，早期使用药物的女性患SUD的风险更高。拟议的研究的主要目标是调查发展的早期阶段，对频繁的物质使用，物质相关的问题，和SUD。该提案描述了NIMH资助的匹兹堡女孩研究（N = 2，451; 52%的非洲裔美国人，41%的白人）的子研究，该研究调查了四个年龄组女孩的反社会行为和犯罪行为的发展，最初评估年龄为5至8岁。这项主要研究目前正在进行第五次年度评估（9至12岁），并将继续进行4年。拟议的研究要求继续由NIDA提供早期资金，支持审查与女孩早期使用药物有关的前兆和解释因素。拟议的研究通过对儿童、主要照顾者和教师进行五年一次的后续评估，将这一调查范围扩大到10岁至17岁的发育期，我们预计女孩的物质使用、与物质有关的问题和共病情况将增加。本研究的目的是：（1）描述女童从儿童期到青春期的物质使用的发展顺序，（2）结合共病的发展过程，特别是精神病理学和其他行为问题，研究女童物质使用的发展顺序;和（3）确定近端和远端的风险和保护因素（通用和女性特定）的不同发展序列的物质使用的女孩。这三个目标，加上已经收集的关于早期使用药物和态度的数据，将把童年因素与青春期使用药物联系起来。匹兹堡女孩研究是美国为数不多的研究之一，可以检查这些关系从童年到青春期。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term development of female substance use, substance-related problems, and substance use disorders (SUDs) is poorly understood. In at least two ways, females appear more vulnerable to substance abuse and dependence compared to males: they demonstrate more rapid development from onset of use to SUD, and a higher propensity to develop comorbid psychopathology. In addition, early onset of substance use carries a higher risk of developing an SUD among females compared with males. The main goal of the proposed research is to investigate the early phases in the development towards frequent substance use, substance-related problems, and SUD. This proposal describes a substudy to the NIMH-funded Pittsburgh Girls Study (N = 2,451; 52 percent African-American, 41 percent Caucasian), an investigation of the development of antisocial behavior and delinquency in four age cohorts of girls, initially assessed at ages 5 to 8. The main study is now in its fifth yearly assessment (ages 9 to 12), and will continue for another 4 years. The proposed study requests a continuation of earlier funding by NIDA, which supported examination of the precursors and explanatory factors associated with girls' early substance use. The proposed research, through five yearly follow-up assessments of the child, the main caretaker, and teachers, extends this line of inquiry into the developmental period from age 10 to 17, when we expect that girls' substance use, substance- related problems, and comorbid conditions will increase. The aims of the proposed research are to: (1) describe developmental sequences of substance use by girls during the transition from childhood into adolescence within and across substances; (2) examine developmental sequences of substance use by girls in conjunction with the developmental course of comorbid conditions, especially psychopathology and other behavior problems; and (3) determine proximal and distal risk and protective factors (both generic and female-specific) for different developmental sequences of substance use by girls. These three aims, in conjunction with the data on early substance use and attitudes already collected, will link childhood factors to substance use during adolescence. The Pittsburgh Girl Study is one of the very few studies in the USA that can examine these relationships from childhood through adolescence.