BEHAVIORAL PRECURSORS OF ALCOHOLISM--TWIN FAMILY STUDIES

本申请请求支持启动以下纵向研究： 12岁芬兰人酒精中毒的行为前兆 双胞胎孩子。在五年的时间里，大约有6,000名双胞胎儿童， 从全国范围的出生队列中确定，将在基线时进行评估 每两年进行一次跟踪调查，包括自我报告和家长/教师评分。 所有双胞胎的父母都将完成问卷评估， 使用、耐受和依赖酒精。从四个连续的 双胞胎队列，将对两个子样本进行密集随访：180例双胞胎 对将被随机选择，每个随机子样本将被 补充了大约70对双胞胎， 通过对他们父母的基线筛查， 在两个选定的子样本中的双胞胎将由同学同龄人进行评分 在学校的练习中，包括对双胞胎的 最亲密的同学随机和高风险子样本的父母将 在当地卫生中心接受采访，使用半- 酒精中毒遗传学结构化评估（SSAGA）14岁时， 深入研究的双胞胎将与青少年版本进行访谈 关于SSAGA这项研究工作的目的是：（一）评价 父母酗酒和其他父母精神病理学的贡献 观察到的酗酒行为前兆的类型和流行率 在童年中期和青春期早期;（ii）评估异质性 在酒精中毒的途径，通过以下发展轨迹， 攻击性、焦虑性和适应性行为倾向，建模 遗传和环境对连续性和随时间变化的影响; (iii)从大量的男性/女性双卵双胞胎样本中获得了独特的数据， 对，以稳健地分析基因X在表达中的性别相互作用， 酒精风险;（iv）测试假设，即表型协方差 酗酒和性情反映了常见的遗传倾向， 共同的环境起源，并探讨中介和调节效应 （五）在法律规定的期限内，对当事人提出的诉讼请求; 性心理成熟对酒精使用的影响 发展的滥用;和，（六）评估父母的影响 对酒精的态度和期望;父母的榜样， 父母的监督;家庭结构、支持和压力;以及 同龄人和住宅区和学校社区的特点 （双胞胎）儿童的酒精预期和发病，发展， 社交饮酒模式的家族聚集结果将 为继续研究这些双胞胎队列提供基础， 他们会发展到青春期后期和成年早期。

This application requests support to initiate a longitudinal study of behavioral precursors of alcoholism in a population of 12-year-old Finnish twin children. Over a five-year period, approximately 6,000 twin children, ascertained from nation-wide birth cohorts, will be assessed, at baseline and biennial follow-up, with self-reports and parental/teacher-ratings. Both parents of all twins will complete questionnaire assessments of their use, tolerance, and dependency on alcohol. From each of four consecutive twin cohorts, two subsamples will be intensively followed-up: 180 twin pairs will be randomly selected, and each random subsample will be supplemented by approximately 70 twin pairs ascertained at elevated risk for the development of alcoholism by baseline screening of their parents. Twins in the two selected subsamples will be rated by classmate peers during in-school exercises that include peer assessments of the twins' closest classroom friends. Parents of random and at-risk subsamples will be interviewed, at local health centers, using relevant sections of Semi- Structured Assessment for Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA). At age 14, intensively studied twins will be interviewed with the Adolescent Version of SSAGA. The aims of this research effort are: (i) to evaluate contributions of parental alcoholism and other parental psychopathologies to type and prevalence of behavioral precursors for alcohol abuse observed during mid-childhood and early adolescence; (ii) to assess heterogeneity in pathways to alcoholism by following developmental trajectories of aggressive, anxious, and adaptive behavioral dispositions, modeling genetic and environmental influences on continuity and change over time; (iii) with unique data, from large samples of male/female dizygotic twin pairs, to robustly analyze gene X gender interactions in the expression of alcohol risk; (iv) to test assumptions that the phenotypic covariance of alcohol abuse and temperament reflect common genetic dispositions and shared environmental origins, and explore mediating and moderating effects on that covariance; (v) to assess effects of variation in the timing of psychosexual maturation on onset of alcohol use and the sequential development of abuse; and, (vi) to evaluate influences of parental attitudes and expectations toward alcohol; of parental modeling and parental monitoring; of family structure, support and stress; and of characteristics of peers and residential and school neighborhoods on (twin) children's alcohol expectancies and the onset, development, and familial aggregation of their social drinking patterns. Results will provide a foundation for the continuing study of these twin cohorts as they develop into late adolescence and early adulthood.