Body concerns and BMI as predictors of disordered eating and body mass in girls: An 18-year longitudinal investigation.

Body concerns (e.g., body dissatisfaction and weight preoccupation) are well-supported prospective risk factors for the development of eating disorders in women.

Investigating associations between caffeinated beverage consumption and later alcohol consumption among early adolescents.

Previous research has demonstrated that caffeinated beverage consumption predicts alcohol consumption among early adolescents. This study aimed to investigate this association in two ways: (1) by examining if this association remained significant once other established risk factors for alcohol were adjusted for statistically; and (2) by considering three possible moderators of this association: gender, sensation-seeking, and parental monitoring. Data from the Camden Youth Development Study, a longitudinal, community-based study of middle-school students, were used.

Interactions Between Energy Drink Consumption and Sleep Problems: Associations with Alcohol Use Among Young Adolescents.

Energy drink consumption and sleep problems are both associated with alcohol use among adolescents. In addition, caffeine consumption (including energy drinks) is associated with sleep problems. However, information about how these three constructs may interact is limited.

Sleep patterns and problems among early adolescents: Associations with alcohol use.

Introduction: Sleep and sleep-related problems are associated with alcohol use and related problems among adults. However, existing research on associations between sleep and alcohol use among early adolescents is minimal, and potential individual and family factors that may affect this association remain largely unexplored. We examined potential associations between frequency of alcohol use and initial insomnia, subjective daytime sleepiness, sleep irregularity, and disturbed sleep among a low-income, ethnic minority sample of early adolescents; we also considered whether psychopathology symptoms and/or parental monitoring accounted for any associations found.

Energy Drink and Coffee Consumption and Psychopathology Symptoms Among Early Adolescents: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations.

Little is known about possible links between energy drink use and psychopathology among youth. This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between energy drink consumption and psychopathology among early adolescents. In addition, associations between psychopathology and coffee consumption were examined to assess whether findings were specific to energy drinks or also applied to another commonly used caffeinated beverage.

Associations Between Depression and Obesity in Parents and Their Late-Adolescent Offspring: A Community-Based Study.

Objective: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and obesity are associated within individuals, but little is known about the association between MDD and obesity within families. We hypothesized that parental MDD would predict increased risk for adolescent obesity and that parental obesity would predict increased risk for adolescent MDD.

Methods: Participants were drawn from the community-based Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 7307; 17 years old: n = 3774).

Energy drink consumption and later alcohol use among early adolescents.

Introduction: Little is known about the association between energy drink and other substance use in early adolescence despite the fact that the consumption of energy drinks during this developmental period is becoming increasingly common. The aim of this study was to examine concurrent and longitudinal associations between energy drink and alcohol use among middle school students. In addition, sensation seeking and parental monitoring were examined as factors that could potentially explain any associations found.

Interactions Between Internalizing Symptoms and Urgency in the Prediction of Alcohol Use and Expectancies Among Low-Income, Minority Early Adolescents.

This study examined whether urgency, a disposition to rash action under conditions of strong emotion, moderates associations between internalizing symptoms and alcohol use and related expectancies. Data from the Camden Youth Development Study, a longitudinal, community-based study of early adolescents (N = 144, mean age at intake = 11.9 years; 65% Hispanic, 30% African-American; 50% male), were used.

Associations between dispositions to rash action and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children.

Impulsivity is not a unitary construct; instead, dispositions to rash action can be divided into five moderately-correlated dimensions. However, the associations between these dimensions and symptoms of psychopathology among youth remain unclear. The goal of this study was to examine associations between different dispositions to rash action and psychopathology in a community sample of middle school youth.

Associations between substance use disorders and major depression in parents and late adolescent-emerging adult offspring: an adoption study.

Aims: To examine whether major depressive disorder (MDD) and substance use disorders [SUDs: specifically, nicotine dependence (ND), alcohol use disorders (AUDs), and cannabis use disorders (CUDs)] in parents predicted increased risk for these disorders in late adolescent-emerging adult offspring and, specifically, the extent to which the pattern of risk differed for adopted and non-adopted youth.

Participants: Late adolescent and emerging adult participants from the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (mean age = 18.8), a community-based investigation of adopted and non-adopted adolescents, and their parents (adoptive parents of adopted youth, biological parents of non-adopted adolescents) were included.

Anxiety disorders and substance use disorders: different associations by anxiety disorder.

Anxiety disorders (ADs) and substance use disorders (SUDs) often occur together, but the strength of this association and their apparent order of onset differ across studies. The goals of this study were to examine: (1) which ADs were associated with which SUDs, and (2) among people who experienced both an AD and a SUD, which disorder had an earlier onset. Lifetime diagnoses from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (n=9282) were used.

Interactions Between MAOA Genotype and Receipt of Public Assistance: Predicting Change in Depressive Symptoms and Body Mass Index.

Response to stress is determined in part by genetically-influenced regulation of the monoamine system. We examined the interaction of a stressor (receipt of public assistance) and a gene regulating the monoamine system (MAOA) in the prediction of change in adolescent depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI). Participants were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health (AddHealth) genetically-informative subsample.

Explaining associations between cannabis use disorders in adolescence and later major depression: a test of the psychosocial failure model.

Aims: Cannabis use disorders (CUDs) in adolescence are associated with increased risk for later major depressive disorder (MDD). The goal of this study was to examine the "psychosocial failure" explanation for this association: the possibility that psychosocial consequences of CUDs in adolescence account for the increased risk for later MDD.

Methods: Participants (n=1252) were drawn from the community-based sample of the Minnesota Twin Family Study and were assessed at ages 17, 20, and 24.

Associations between heavy drinking and changes in impulsive behavior among adolescent boys.

Background: Impulsive behavior in humans predicts the onset of drinking during adolescence and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) in adulthood. It is also possible, however, that heavy drinking may increase impulsive behavior by affecting the development of brain areas that support behavioral control or through other associated mechanisms. This study examined whether drinking heavily during adolescence is related to changes in impulsive behavior with a specific focus on how the association differs across individuals, contingent on the developmental course of their impulsiveness.

Associations between subtypes of major depressive episodes and substance use disorders.

The goal of this study was to examine whether certain subtypes of major depressive episodes (MDEs)-defined by their particular constellations of symptoms-were more strongly associated with substance use disorders (SUDs), compared to other subtypes of MDEs. Participants were adults in the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication sample who met DSM criteria for at least one lifetime MDE (n=1829). Diagnostic assessments were conducted using structured interviews.

Associations between first use of substances and change in internalizing symptoms among girls: differences by symptom trajectory and substance use type.

This study examined how girls' initial use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana related to changes in depressive, generalized anxiety, and social anxiety symptoms, and whether these changes varied based on which internalizing symptom trajectories the girls were on. Data came from the Pittsburgh Girls Study, a community-based study of girls assessed at ages 5 to 8 and followed for 6 years. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify trajectory groups.

Longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and alcohol problems: The influence of comorbid delinquent behavior.

Objective: Although numerous studies have demonstrated a positive association between depressive symptoms and alcohol problems and related disorders, it remains unclear whether this link can be explained by the joint co-occurrence of these disorders with delinquent behavior. This study examined the longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and alcohol problems from early adolescence through early adulthood, while accounting for delinquent behavior and the potential interaction effects between delinquent behavior and each of these problems.

Method: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health sample of 20,728 adolescents, followed for 6 years, was used.

Longitudinal associations between depression and substance dependence from adolescence through early adulthood.

Aims: The association between depression and substance dependence is poorly understood; examinations of these two disorders over time during key developmental periods can provide insight into how these problems relate to each other. The goal of the present study was to examine longitudinal associations between depression and substance (alcohol and illicit drug) dependence during the period from adolescence through early adulthood.

Participants: Participants in the Minnesota Twin Family Study, a community-based sample of 1252 youth and their families, were used.

Anxiety as a predictor of age at first use of substances and progression to substance use problems among boys.

This study examined associations of generalized and social anxiety with (1) age at first use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana and (2) interval from first use to first problem use of each substance. Participants were 503 males who comprised the youngest cohort (first assessed in the first grade) of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a longitudinal community-based study of boys. Annual assessments of generalized and social anxiety, delinquency, and substance use from first grade through high school were included.

Neighborhoods and genes and everything in between: understanding adolescent aggression in social and biological contexts.

Adolescent aggression was explored in relation to neighborhood and genetic characteristics. Child saturation (the proportion of the population consisting of children under the age of 15), ethnic heterogeneity, poverty, and urbanicity of neighborhoods were examined in relation to adolescent aggression in 12,098 adolescents followed longitudinally for 1 year. Longitudinal analyses indicated that child saturation was positively associated with increases in aggression, with this finding emerging among those living in the same neighborhood at both testing times and those who moved between testing times.

Longitudinal associations between alcohol problems and depressive symptoms: early adolescence through early adulthood.

Background: Alcohol use-related problems and depressive symptoms are clearly associated with each other, but results regarding the nature of this association have been inconsistent. In addition, the possible moderating effects of age and gender have not been comprehensively examined. The goals of this study were to clarify: (i) how depressive symptoms affect the levels and trajectory of alcohol use-related problems, (ii) how alcohol use-related problems affect the levels and trajectory of depressive symptoms, and (iii) whether there are differences in these associations at different points in development or between males and females.

Prospective associations between depressive symptoms and eating disorder symptoms among adolescent girls.

Objective: Although eating disorders are frequently associated with depression, evidence regarding which problem predicts the other is conflicting, and little research has addressed the developmental course of this relation. This study examined longitudinal associations between depression and eating pathology across adolescence.

Method: Participants were 754 girls participating in the community-based Minnesota Twin Family Study.

Long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on alcohol use and excessive drinking in middle adulthood.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on alcohol use in middle adulthood.

Method: Individuals with documented cases of childhood physical and sexual abuse and/or neglect (n = 500) and matched controls (n = 396) from a metropolitan county in the Midwest were followed and interviewed in middle adulthood. Outcomes were Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised, diagnoses of alcohol abuse or dependence in young adulthood (age 29) and excessive drinking in middle adulthood (age 40).