Parent, Family, and Neighborhood Effects on the Development of Child Substance Use and Other Psychopathology from Preschool to the Start of Adulthood

Abstract

Abstract Objective: We examined the long-term effects of childhood familial and neighborhood risk on adolescent substance use and psychiatric symptomatology. Method: This study used data from an ongoing two-decade long study that recruited alcoholic and neighborhood control families through fathers’ drunk driving records and door-to-door canvassing in a four county area. The sample included 220 male, initially 3-5 year old children of the participant families, who received in-home assessments at baseline and thereafter at three-year intervals. Parental lifetime psychopathology and offspring symptomatology at ages 18-20 were assessed by semi-structured diagnostic interviews. Census tract variables were used to indicate neighborhood characteristics. Results: The isomorphic parental symptomatology predicted offspring psychopathology. For marijuana use disorder (MJUD), major depression disorder (MDD), and nicotine dependence (ND), the other parental comorbidities were also significant predictors. Neighborhood residential instability in childhood contributed to the development of late adolescent alcohol use disorder (AUD), MJUD, MDD, antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and ND symptomatology. Although lower family SES in childhood contributed to more adolescent MJUD, MDD, and ND symptoms, neighborhood SES did not predict adolescent psychopathology. Longitudinal changes in neighborhood environments from early childhood to adolescence had significant effects on AUD, MJUD, and MDD symptoms in late adolescence. A higher frequency of family mobility from early childhood to adolescence predicted more ND symptoms in late adolescence. Conclusion: Findings indicate that parental psychopathology, family SES, and neighborhood residential instability are all important risk factors for the development of substance use disorder and other comorbid psychopathology. Intervention programming might effectively utilize these early parental psychopathology indicators to identify risk, as well as target community activity to stabilize the social environment and provide youth services to counteract the effects of family transience.