Development of Substance Use in Girls

描述(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(SODS)的长期发展知之甚少。至少在两个方面，与男性相比，女性似乎更容易受到药物滥用和依赖的影响：她们表现出从开始使用到SUD的更快发展，以及更高的患上共病精神病理的倾向。此外，与男性相比，早期开始使用药物在女性中患上sud的风险更高。拟议研究的主要目标是调查向频繁使用药物、与物质相关的问题和SUD发展的早期阶段。这项建议描述了NIMH资助的匹兹堡女孩研究(N=2451；52%非裔美国人，41%白人)的一个子研究，调查四个年龄段女孩反社会行为和犯罪行为的发展，最初评估的年龄在5岁到8岁之间。主要研究目前正在进行第五次年度评估(9岁到12岁)，并将再持续4年。拟议的研究请求NIDA继续提供早期资金，以支持审查与女孩早期使用药物有关的前体和解释因素。这项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跟踪评估，将这一调查范围扩展到从10岁到17岁的发育期，届时我们预计女孩的药物使用、与药物相关的问题和共病情况将会增加。拟议研究的目的是：(1)描述女孩在从童年过渡到青春期期间在物质内部和跨物质使用的发育序列；(2)结合共病疾病的发育过程，特别是精神病理学和其他行为问题，检查女孩使用物质的发育序列；(3)确定女孩不同发育序列的物质使用的近端和远端风险和保护因素(一般和女性特有的)。这三个目标，连同已经收集的关于早期药物使用和态度的数据，将把儿童因素与青春期的药物使用联系起来。匹兹堡女孩研究是美国为数不多的能够研究从童年到青春期这些关系的研究之一。

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.