Examined whether risk of drug abuse in offspring of fathers with substance use disorders differs with respect to presence or absence of the father. Concluded increased risk for substance abuse in offspring of separated parents due to the combination of the transmission of more severe liability from the father, and fewer resources available to the…

Designs and evaluates a multidimensional schema for the assessment of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use topology. Findings illustrate the value of multidimensional assessment for identifying youth at high risk for substance use disorder (SUD) as well as for elucidating the factors contributing to the transition to suprathreshold SUD. (Contains…

Evidence indicates that psychological dysregulation is an integral component of the liability for substance use disorder (SUD). This report discusses the rationale underlying the Dysregulation Inventory (DI), methods employed in item selection and scale construction, and preliminary results regarding psychometric properties. Results indicate that…

Investigates the Drug Use Screening Inventory's (DUSI) utility for identifying youth who will develop a disorder of abuse/dependence. Findings indicate that the DUSI, taking only 15-20 minutes to complete, is a useful practical instrument to identify youth who could benefit most from prevention interventions. (Contains 12 references and 4 tables.)…

Examines the extent to which behavioral dysregulation in late childhood predicted daily cigarette smoking in mid-adolescence. Daily smoking at age 16 was predicted by behavioral dysregulation with 67% classification accuracy. Results indicate that both individual and environmental factors conjointly contribute to the emergence of daily smoking…

The results reported herein indicate that psychological dysregulation in childhood is a risk factor for substance use disorder (SUD) but not suicidality. Offspring of men with SUD do, however, report a higher rate of suicidal ideation and attempts compared to offspring of psychiatrically normal men. (Contains 28 references and 4 tables.) (GCP)

Paternal and maternal models of transmission of child neglect were tested separately in offspring of men with a substance use disorder (SUD). Child dysregulation was independently related to neglect severity. SUD in the mother directly correlated with severity of neglectful parenting. (Contains 51 references and 2 tables.) (GCP)

Compared the language capacities of children at high risk for substance abuse to low-risk children to uncover focal areas of deficit. Results indicate that high-risk subjects' performance was significantly poorer on several measures of language ability. Findings suggest that poor language mediation increases the risk for substance abuse. (RJM)

Studied the reliability and validity of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) with 443 adolescents with Substance Use Disorder and adolescents with anxiety disorder. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that a three-factor model fit the data better than a two-factor model. Discusses other findings, which indicate the STAIC is…