Associations between childhood ADHD, gender, and adolescent alcohol and marijuana involvement: A causally informative design.

Background: We report whether the etiology underlying associations of childhood ADHD with adolescent alcohol and marijuana involvement is consistent with causal relationships or shared predispositions, and whether it differs by gender.

Methods: In three population-based twin samples (N = 3762; 64% monozygotic), including one oversampling females with ADHD, regressions were conducted with childhood inattentive or hyperactive-impulsive symptoms predicting alcohol and marijuana outcomes by age 17. To determine whether ADHD effects were consistent with causality, twin difference analyses divided effects into those shared between twins in the pair and those differing within pairs.

Antisocial peer affiliation and externalizing disorders: Evidence for Gene × Environment × Development interaction.

Gene × Environment interaction contributes to externalizing disorders in childhood and adolescence, but little is known about whether such effects are long lasting or present in adulthood. We examined gene-environment interplay in the concurrent and prospective associations between antisocial peer affiliation and externalizing disorders (antisocial behavior and substance use disorders) at ages 17, 20, 24, and 29. The sample included 1,382 same-sex twin pairs participating in the Minnesota Twin Family Study.

A Test-Replicate Approach to Candidate Gene Research on Addiction and Externalizing Disorders: A Collaboration Across Five Longitudinal Studies.

This study presents results from a collaboration across five longitudinal studies seeking to test and replicate models of gene-environment interplay in the development of substance use and externalizing disorders (SUDs, EXT). We describe an overview of our conceptual models, plan for gene-environment interplay analyses, and present main effects results evaluating six candidate genes potentially relevant to SUDs and EXT (MAOA, 5-HTTLPR, COMT, DRD2, DAT1, and DRD4). All samples included rich longitudinal and phenotypic measurements from childhood/adolescence (ages 5-13) through early adulthood (ages 25-33); sample sizes ranged from 3487 in the test sample, to ~600-1000 in the replication samples.

Parent involvement, sibling companionship, and adolescent substance use: A longitudinal, genetically informed design.

A large literature shows that parent and sibling relationship factors are associated with an increased likelihood of adolescent substance use. Less is known about the etiology of these associations. Using a genetically informed sibling design, we examined the prospective associations between parent involvement, sibling companionship, and adolescent substance use at 2 points in mid- and late-adolescence.

High School Sports Involvement Diminishes the Association Between Childhood Conduct Disorder and Adult Antisocial Behavior.

Purpose: Life course-persistent antisocial behavior manifests as a display of aggressive and antisocial behavior beginning in childhood (conduct disorder [CD]) and lasting through adulthood (adult antisocial personality disorder). This study aimed to build on prior research by evaluating whether involvement in high school sports helped attenuate the association between CD and subsequent adult antisocial behavior (AAB).

Methods: A prospective sample of 967 male and female adolescents (56% adopted) was used.

The developmental progression of age 14 behavioral disinhibition, early age of sexual initiation, and subsequent sexual risk-taking behavior.

Background: Research has demonstrated a consistent relationship between early sexual experience and subsequent sexual risk-taking behaviors. We hypothesized that this relationship is due to a general predisposition toward behavioral disinhibition (BD), and that relationships among BD, early sex, and subsequent risky sexual behavior may be influenced by common genetic influences for males and common environmental influences for females.

Methods: A prospective sample of 1,512 same-sex adolescent twins (50.

General and specific predictors of nicotine and alcohol dependence in early adulthood: genetic and environmental influences.

Objective: This study builds on previous work delineating a hierarchical model of family environmental risk in relation to a hierarchical model of externalizing disorders (EXTs) by evaluating for gene-environment interplay in these relationships. The associations between parent-child relationship quality (conflict, bonding, and management) and substance-specific adolescent family environments (parental/sibling tobacco/alcohol use) in relation to young adult EXTs (age ∼22 years nicotine, alcohol, and other drug dependence; antisocial and risky sexual behavior) were evaluated.

Method: The sample included 533 adopted offspring and 323 biological offspring.

Peer deviance, alcohol expectancies, and adolescent alcohol use: explaining shared and nonshared environmental effects using an adoptive sibling pair design.

Previous research suggests adolescent alcohol use is largely influenced by environmental factors, yet little is known about the specific nature of this influence. We hypothesized that peer deviance and alcohol expectancies would be sources of environmental influence because both have been consistently and strongly correlated with adolescent alcohol use. The sample included 206 genetically related and 407 genetically unrelated sibling pairs assessed in mid-to-late adolescence.

Levels of risk: maternal-, middle childhood-, and neighborhood-level predictors of adolescent disinhibitory behaviors from a longitudinal birth cohort in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: Disruptive behavior in adolescence may indicate a broad vulnerability to disinhibition, which begins in childhood and culminates in adult externalizing psychopathology. We utilized prospective birth cohort data to assess childhood predictors of adolescent disinhibition. We also examined the effect of pre-adolescent fluctuation in cognitive ability.

The enrichment study of the Minnesota twin family study: increasing the yield of twin families at high risk for externalizing psychopathology.

The Enrichment Study (ES) was designed to extend the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS) by oversampling 11-year-old twins at especially high risk for substance use disorders by virtue of having a childhood disruptive disorder. The sample was ascertained from Minnesota birth records. To identify high-risk twins, we conducted telephone screening interviews for parent-reported symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD) as well as indications of academic disengagement.

Family interactions in adoptive compared to nonadoptive families.

Despite the large and growing numbers of adoptive families, little research describes interactions in families with adopted adolescents. Yet, adopted adolescents' increased risk for adjustment problems, combined with the association between family interactions and adolescent adjustment in nonadoptive families, raises questions about differences in adoptive and nonadoptive family interactions. We compared observed and self-reported family interactions between 284 adoptive and 208 nonadoptive families and within 123 families with 1 adopted and 1 nonadopted adolescent.

The mental health of US adolescents adopted in infancy.

Objective: To determine whether adopted adolescents are at excess risk for clinically relevant behavioral and emotional problems.

Design: We examined whether adopted and nonadopted adolescents differed on quantitative indicators of mental health and the prevalence of childhood disorders and whether differences exist between internationally and domestically placed adoptees.

Setting: Assessments occurred at the University of Minnesota from December 11, 1998, to June 4, 2004.

How useful are voluntary medication error reports? The case of warfarin-related medication errors.

Background: A study was conducted to explore the value and limitations of voluntary medical error reports and to learn about common errors in warfarin use.

Methods: Voluntary reports of 8,837 inpatient errors and 820 outpatient errors in warfarin use submitted by 445 hospitals and 192 outpatient facilities participating in MEDMARX, a voluntary medication error reporting system, from 2002 to 2004, were gathered.

Results: Overall, errors occurred most often during transcription/documentation (35%) and administration (30%) in hospitals, and during prescribing (31%) and dispensing (39%) in outpatient settings.

Early onset problem behavior, young adult psychopathology, and contextual risk.

A prospective study of 692 male twins was undertaken to investigate the relationships among early adolescent problem behavior, contextual risk, and disinhibitory psychopathology. Early adolescent problem behavior was assessed by the number of the following behaviors engaged in by the time of the age-14 assessment: (1) tobacco use, (2) alcohol use, (3) marijuana use, (4) other illicit drug use, (5) sexual intercourse, and (6) police contact. Contextual risk was assessed as a composite of measures of peer models, parent-offspring conflict, and academic engagement from the age-14 assessment.

Potential benefits and problems with computerized prescriber order entry: analysis of a voluntary medication error-reporting database.

Purpose: The potential benefits and problems associated with computerized prescriber-order-entry (CPOE) systems were studied.

Methods: A national voluntary medication error-reporting database, Medmarx, was used to compare facilities that had CPOE with those that did not have CPOE. The characteristics of medication errors reportedly caused by CPOE were explored, and the text descriptions of these errors were qualitatively analyzed.

Technology and patient safety: a two-edged sword.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is now the world's largest funder of patient safety research. Part of AHRQ's research focus is to examine evidence to help determine which technologies can be used to effectively minimize harm and improve patient safety. The report of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).