Development of Substance Use in Girls

描述（由申请人提供）：女性药物使用、药物相关问题和药物使用障碍（SUDs）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：她们从开始使用到SUD的发展速度更快，并且更倾向于发展共病精神病理。此外，与男性相比，早期开始使用药物的女性患SUD的风险更高。拟议研究的主要目标是调查频繁使用物质、物质相关问题和SUD发展的早期阶段。该提案描述了nimh资助的匹兹堡女孩研究（N = 2451； 52%的非裔美国人，41%的白种人）的一项子研究，该研究调查了四个年龄段的女孩的反社会行为和犯罪发展，最初评估是在5到8岁之间。主要研究现在是第五次年度评估（9至12岁），并将继续进行4年。拟议的研究要求国家药物开发协会继续提供较早的资金，以支持审查与女孩早期药物使用有关的前体和解释因素。这项拟议的研究，通过对儿童、主要看护人和教师的五年跟踪评估，将这一调查范围扩展到10岁至17岁的发育时期，在这个时期，我们预计女孩的药物使用、药物相关问题和合并症会增加。拟议研究的目的是：(1)描述女孩在从儿童期到青春期过渡期间的物质使用的发展序列；(2)结合合并症的发展过程，特别是精神病理和其他行为问题，检查女孩物质使用的发展顺序；(3)确定女孩不同物质使用发育顺序的近端和远端风险和保护因素（包括一般和女性特异性）。这三个目标，结合已经收集到的关于早期药物使用和态度的数据，将把儿童时期的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从童年到青春期检查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.