This is a proposal to identify the intergenerational effects on adolescent substance use that can be attributed to family risk factors. We draw on Jessor and Jessor's (1975, 1977) Problem Behavior Theory that conceptualizes adolescent substance use as a component of problem behaviors in adolescence which have precursors in childhood socio- emotional problems. The problem behaviors evolve in a context of personality and environment systems. Family environment is a critical link between parental drug use and childhood and adolescence behavior problems and adolescent substance use. The family risk factors that we focus on are the occurrence of major family life events and the affective quality of the home environment. We hypothesize that parental drug use leads to an increase in the number of family life events, and a decrease in the affective quality of the home environment to which the children are exposed. These family characteristics lead to a lowered self-esteem (a component of the personality system) and increased behavior problems. The latter two attributes, in turn, predict substance use in adolescence. We propose to estimate longitudinal model that will assess (1) the effects of maternal drug use on subsequent family life events and the affective quality of the home environment; (2) the effects of these family risk factors on problem behaviors in childhood and adolescence; (3) the significance of childhood behavioral and personality attributes or predicting substance use in adolescence; and (4) the hypothesized decline in the effects of family risk factors on problem behaviors as children enter adolescence. Further, we will examine whether the effects of family risk factors on childhood and adolescence problem behaviors vary as a function of the child's sex and African- American Origin. We test these hypotheses using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY) of 1979-1992 and its child supplements of 1986,1988,1990 and 1992. We also propose an exploratory analysis of maternal and paternal influences on the affective quality of the home environment and behavior problems. These analyses will be based on a special subsample of NLSY children born to mothers and fathers who were members of the original NLSY cohort. The findings from this study could be generalized to the children of adolescent mothers who are typically economically disadvantaged and at high risk of problem behaviors including drug use.
