Intergenerational Transmission of Alcohol Involvement

描述（由申请人提供）：有酒精家族史的个体发生酒精问题的风险增加，但酒精行为代代相传的具体机制尚不清楚。拟议研究的目的是调查参与联合儿童健康项目（正在毛里求斯岛进行的一项三代纵向研究）的参与者之间酒精参与（即酒精使用和问题）的发展及其代际传递。1972年，对1795名3岁的男女儿童进行了心理生理、营养、认知和气质因素的测试，同时对他们的第一代父母进行了心理社会变量的评估。这第二代人现在已经40岁了，他们和他们的配偶将被评估终身饮酒情况以及相关的遗传、性格、文化、家庭、养育子女和心理社会方面的措施。第三代后代在3岁至11岁之间的心理生理、营养、认知和气质因素上也有很好的特征。对12岁或以上的第三代后代进行早期酒精参与和相关变量的评估，包括遗传、家族、同伴、文化和社会影响、个性和个体差异，以及心理、认知和行为变量。多代数据集和JCHP的独特设置将使我们能够梳理出风险和保护因素之间复杂的相互作用，而这在美国样本中是无法做到的，因为美国的酒精使用几乎是普遍的。研究结果还将测试酒精问题发展的途径模型在非西方文化中推广的程度。该研究的三个具体目标是：1)创建一个丰富的数据集来测试三代人饮酒的机制，2)测试G3后代早期开始饮酒的假设机制，以及3)测试G3后代从开始饮酒到危险饮酒的进展机制。这项多代人的前瞻性研究有足够的力量和全面的评估儿童前体和酒精参与，以解开复杂的个体差异，社会心理，生物，文化和遗传风险和保护因素对酒精参与的相互作用。了解这些过程将为今后的预防和减少危害的研究和努力提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Individuals with a family history of alcohol problems are at increased risk for developing alcohol problems, but the specific mechanisms by which alcohol behaviors are transmitted from one generation to the next are not well understood. The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate the development of alcohol involvement (i.e. alcohol use and problems) and its intergenerational transmission among participants in the Joint Child Health Project, an ongoing three-generational longitudinal study on the island of Mauritius. In 1972, a general sample cohort of 1,795 male and female 3 year-olds were tested on psycho-physiological, nutritional, cognitive, and temperamental factors, while their first-generation parents were assessed on psychosocial variables. This second generation is now 40 years old and along with their spouses will be assessed on measures of lifetime alcohol involvement and associated genetic, personality, cultural, familial, parenting, and psychosocial measures. The third-generation offspring also have been well characterized on psycho-physiological, nutritional, cognitive, and temperamental factors between the ages of 3 and 11 years. The third-generation offspring who are 12 years of age or older will now be assessed for early alcohol involvement and associated variables, including genetic, familial, peer, cultural, and social influences, personality and individual differences, and psychosocial, cognitive, and behavioral variables. The multigenerational dataset and unique setting of the JCHP will enable us to tease apart the complex interplay of risk and protective factors in ways that cannot be done in U.S. samples where alcohol use is nearly universal. Findings will also test the degree to which pathway models of the development of alcohol problems generalize to a non-Western culture. The three specific aims of the proposed study are: 1) to create a rich dataset for testing mechanisms of alcohol involvement over three generations, 2) to test hypothesized mechanisms for the early initiation of alcohol use in G3 offspring, and 3) to test mechanisms for the progression from initiation to hazardous drinking in G3 offspring. This multigenerational prospective study has sufficient power and comprehensive assessments of childhood precursors and alcohol involvement to disentangle the complex interactive effects of individual differences, psychosocial, biological, cultural, and genetic risk and protective factors on alcohol involvement. Knowledge of such processes will inform future prevention and harm reduction research and efforts. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study offers a unique opportunity to better understand how biological, cultural, familial, and psychosocial risk and protective factors influence the continuity and change of alcohol involvement across generations. This new knowledge could contribute to more effective prevention programs for reducing alcohol problems and disorders.