This is a resubmission of an R0l application that nests a high risk genetic/family study within an epidemiologic framework, representing a novel paradigm for epidemiologic research on alcohol dependence (AD). In particular, its over sampling of African-American (Af-A) families will permit testing of long-standing models of adolescent and young adult alcohol involvement that have been based on Majority (Maj) (primarily Caucasian) youth. In addition to its over sample of Af-A families, other advantages are: ascertainment of families from a representative sample; over sampling of families at high risk of AD; direct assessments of multiple family members; 2-year follow-up of offspring; and collection of DNA for paternity confirmation. Families are ascertained thru birth records of individuals from birth year cohorts to be aged of 13,15,17 and 19 at baseline, with an over sample of families with 2 or more offspring, and screened by telephone to identify potentially high risk families. For families screening positive (i.e., index case's father is reported as an excessive drinker), and a sub-sample of those screening negative, biological mothers and fathers (or best informant thereof) will be interviewed by telephone about own, and co-parent's AD and other psychopathology, as well as history of psychopathology in the index case and 1 or 2 siblings aged 13-31. To enrich the sample with severely alcoholic fathers, men with 2 or more D Wis (""""""""Recurrent Drunk Driving - RDD) identified from state driving record data will be matched to birth record data in order to select one of their children born in the specified birth years as an index child, and these families included in the protocol. Index cases and 1 or 2 siblings from families where fathers meet lifetime criteria for DSM-IV AD, by own report or 2 informant reports (""""""""high risk"""""""": 150 Afr-Af-A, 75 Majority (Maj) families), those from families where fathers did not meet AD criteria (""""""""control """""""": 150 Af-A, 75 Maj), and those from RDD families (150 Af-A, 150 Maj) will be invited for telephone diagnostic interview and questionnaire completion, and offspring re-interviewed 2 years later. Data will be analyzed with ongoing studies in our research group using more specialized twin-family designs. Data will be used to test 2 models of alcohol and other substance involvement, particularly as these relate to Af-A families; as well as hypotheses about sibling influences on alcohol and other substance involvement and problems which conventional parent-one child and even specialized twin-family studies have tested in a limited way; and cross sectional and longitudinal associations of: parenting style, paternal AD, other parental comorbidity, own comorbidity, temperament, traumatic events, and developmental transitions (school, work, marriage) with: offspring alcohol, nicotine and other drug use, problems and disorders.
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