Associations of Father's Lifetime Cannabis Use Disorder with Child's Initiation of Cannabis Use, Alcohol Use, and Sexual Intercourse by Child Gender

Using the Theory of Reasoned Action to examine grandparent and maternal substance use on the cannabis use of children of teen mothers

BACKGROUND

Parental cannabis use is associated with increased risks of cannabis use among offspring, yet few studies have explored the mechanisms influencing intergenerational continuity in cannabis use. To understand the mechanism by which intergenerational cannabis use is influenced, this work explores cannabis use across three generations using a family expansion of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA).

METHODS

Data come from the Young Women and Child Development Study which began when teen mothers were pregnant and followed mother-child dyads for 17 years (N = 240). Constructs include cannabis use of grandparents, mothers, and teens, and TRA constructs of behavioral and normative beliefs, intention, and behavior. Hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling.

RESULTS

Grandfather's cannabis use was significantly linked to mother's normative beliefs (β = .22, p = .006), but not attitudes (β = .12, p = .182). Teen mothers' attitude was associated with intention (β = .79, p < .001); intention predicted cannabis behavior (β = .61, p < .001). Teen mothers' cannabis use was predictive of adolescent's attitude (β = .21, p = .002); attitude predicted intention (β = .73, p < .001) and intention predicted behavior (β = .60, p < .001).

DISCUSSION

Parents play an influential role in the cannabis use behaviors of adolescents. Future work should consider interventions that target both parent and adolescents, increasing knowledge and skills related to parent-child communication, parental monitoring, and positive parental role modeling to reduce intergenerational continuity of cannabis use.

Adolescent Sexual Development: A Family Perspective

Adolescent sexual development is informed by individual, relational, generational, institutional, and cultural perspectives. Families matter: they are the social institution at the intersection of adolescent development and broader social systems, charged with the responsibility for rearing children and adolescents to adulthood. This narrative review maps insights from family theory and research onto adolescent sexual development research. Our purpose is to inform sexuality researchers from diverse fields about how family perspectives can enrich understanding of adolescent sexual development. We present the critical, intersectional theoretical framework guiding this review as consisting of three meta-themes for understanding families through an examination of family structure, process, and context. Then, we apply those meta-themes to current research on adolescent sexual development by selectively organizing our review around the contexts of family structural diversity and family relational complexity, demonstrating that both the structure and the process components are embedded within the intersectional and cultural contexts that shape and are shaped by families. Our review demonstrates that diverse, intersectional family structures and transitions may affect adolescent sexual development by influencing family processes, particularly around sexual communication. We conclude with implications of using family perspectives for future inquiry related to adolescent sexual development.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in 30-Year Trajectories of Cannabis Use among Males

Background: Given that cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in the US, continuous research on patterns of cannabis use over the life course can help to ensure progress towards improving public health and reducing health inequalities across race/ethnicity. Thus, we examine racial/ethnic differences in cannabis use trajectories among males across two overlapping stages of the life course. Methods: We use data from two companion studies, the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS - a longitudinal cohort study that followed participants from adolescence into adulthood), and its intergenerational extension - the Rochester Intergenerational Study. For Life Stage 1, we consider cannabis use during the transition from adolescence to adulthood (spanning ages 13 to 33; 439 Black, 128 White, and 125 Hispanic males). Among these males who became fathers, we consider cannabis use during fatherhood (Life Stage 2 -spanning the period of time when their firstborn child was between the ages of 7 and 17-217 Black, 55 White, and 56 Hispanic males). Ordinal generalized estimating equations were specified to examine cannabis use trajectories during both stages of the males' lives. Results: No significant differences in cannabis use as a function of racial/ethnic group were found during the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Life Stage 1). All groups had a peak of cannabis use in the early to mid-20's followed by a decline in use. During fatherhood (Life Stage 2), cannabis use was stable for all groups, but Black fathers reported more frequent cannabis use on average than Hispanic fathers. Conclusions: The increase in cannabis use well past adolescence for all groups suggests the potential importance of intervention initiatives during the transition to adulthood. The more frequent use of cannabis by Black fathers warrants further study given the impact parental cannabis use can have on offspring.

Intergenerational Patterns in Offending: Lessons from the Rochester Intergenerational Study-ASC Division of Developmental and Life Course Criminology David P. Farrington Lecture, 2019

PURPOSE

In recent years, criminology has seen an increase in the number of 3-generation, prospective studies of offending. The most fundamental question posed by these studies is whether, and to what extent, parental involvement in adolescent delinquency increases the risk of offending by their offspring. There are several important substantive and methodological challenges that need to be confronted in assessing the intergenerational effect including the examination of moderating influences that can change the level of intergenerational continuity and methodological issues as definitional elasticity-the impact on the level of intergenerational continuity that is likely to be observed based on a) how offending is defined and b) how the inherent heterogeneity in offending is taken into accounted.

METHODS

To examine these issues I use data from the Rochester Intergenerational Study (RIGS), an extension of the original Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS). RYDS began data collection in 1988 with a sample of 1000 adolescents and one of their parents. The intergenerational study began in 1999 by adding a third generation member - the oldest biological child of the initial adolescent participants - and following them over time with 19 annual assessments.

RESULTS

Overall, there is a significant positive association between a parent's involvement in adolescent delinquency and the likelihood that their offspring will also be involved in delinquency. That overall relationship, however, masks substantial internal variability. The significance and size of the intergenerational effect varies by such factors as the level of ongoing contact between fathers and their children and the child's gender. It is also influenced by methodological considerations such as definitional elasticity. Under some definitions of delinquent behavior, a robust relationship between the parent's delinquency and the child's is observed while under other definitions there is no significant relationship.

CONCLUSION

There is, as of now, no clear and consistent answer to the question of whether or not children follow in the footsteps of their parents with respect to delinquency. The field of intergenerational study, which is still relatively new, needs to confront more directly and systematically how both substantive and methodological issues that can influence estimates of the intergenerational effect.

Intergenerational marijuana use: A life course examination of the relationship between parental trajectories of marijuana use and the onset of marijuana use by offspring

Prior research documents intergenerational (IG) continuity in marijuana use, with most work adopting a life course perspective. Incorporating a methodology that allows for the measurement of "patterns of behavior" instead of singular aspects of parent marijuana use (e.g., age of onset or frequency at any one age or ages), we investigated the simultaneous effects of parental age of onset, frequency, and duration of marijuana use across 3 periods of the life course (i.e., adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood) on the timing of first marijuana use among offspring. Using prospective data from 2 companion studies, the Rochester Youth Development Study and the Rochester Intergenerational Study, we used group-based trajectory models to estimate trajectories (or patterns) of parental marijuana use spanning ages 14 to 31 among a birth cohort of 462 parents. We then examined the relationship between parental trajectories of marijuana use and the timing of the onset of marijuana use through age 25 among firstborn offspring. Both late-onset persistent use by parents and increasing chronic use spanning adolescence to adulthood by parents were associated with an increased likelihood of onset of marijuana use among offspring. The results underscore the importance of patterns of marijuana use for IG continuity in contrast to singular measures (e.g., age of onset among parents), which can obfuscate important IG patterns of continuity. Prevention and intervention programs should consider the entire history of parent use to better identify children most at risk for the onset of marijuana use in adolescence and emerging adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Cannabis Use: Neurobiological, Behavioral, and Sex/Gender Considerations

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To summarize the current literature on the effects of cannabinoids in humans and to discuss the existing literature on the sex- and gender-related differences in the effects of cannabinoids.

RECENT FINDINGS

Cannabis and its constituent cannabinoids are associated with risk of addiction, cognitive deficits and mood/psychotic disorders. Preclinical and emerging clinical data suggest greater sensitivity to the effects of cannabinoids in women.

SUMMARY

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used drugs with increasing rates of use. Women in particular may be at a greater risk of adverse outcomes given the previously described "telescoping effect" of substance use in women. Human data examining the sex- and gender-related differences in the effects of cannabinoids and factors underlying these differences are very limited. This represents a critical gap in the literature and needs to be systematically examined in future studies.