Conservative estimates suggest that 1 in 5 Americans will develop an alcohol use disorder (or AUD, defined as an alcohol abuse or dependence disorder diagnosis) during their lifetime. Despite the importance of AUDs as a public health concern, important gaps in knowledge remain concerning the familial transmission of AUD risk within the general population. To address these gaps, the proposed research will investigate several important features associated with familial transmission of AUDs with an existing multigenerational data set from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project (OADP). The research described in this proposal will address several issues not previously addressed in prior OADP publications. Four broad areas are emphasized that integrate OADP's longitudinal and developmental features. (1) The risk for AUDs in offspring with respect to parental AUD history will be calculated, and possible processes associated with familial transmission will be tested. (2) Parental AUDs will be investigated as one element of a larger constellation of psychiatric disorders associated with a risk liability for AUDs among offspring, and analyses will be performed to determine whether parental AUDs continue to uniquely predict offspring AUDs once other forms of parental psychopathology have been considered and controlled. (3) In an effort to identify characteristics that represent more familial forms of AUDs, offspring-parent concordance for AUD-related features and developmental trajectories will be evaluated. (4) Possible differences in temperament patterns between infants of parents with AUD histories and infants of parents without AUD histories will be explored. Findings from these projects are expected to make significant contributions to current understandings of the family transmission of AUD risk, inform theories of the development of AUDs, and facilitate the development of targeted prevention programs and therapeutic interventions.
The proposed research is consistent with two broad objectives of NIAAA's Strategic Plan for Research. (1) To increase knowledge of when problematic drinking is likely to occur, the proposed research will document family-based factors associated with increased risk for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in offspring. (2) To increase knowledge of why some people develop AUDs and others have difficulty recovering fully from initial AUD episodes, the proposed research will examine similarities and differences in clinical characteristics and alcohol abuse trajectories shared among family members in an effort to identify more familial forms of AUDs.
