Abstract
Background and AimsEvidence demonstrating an association between parental alcohol use and offspring alcohol use from robust prospective studies is lacking. We tested the direct and indirect associations between parental and young adult alcohol use via early alcohol initiation, parental monitoring and associating with deviant peers.DesignProspective birth cohort study. Path analysis was used to assess the possible association between parental alcohol use (assessed at 12 years) and alcohol use in young adults (assessed at 18 years) via potential mediators (assessed at 14 and 15.5 years, respectively).SettingSouth West England.ParticipantsData were available on 3785 adolescents and their parents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.MeasurementsThe continuous Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score was used as the primary outcome measure. Maternal alcohol use was defined as light (< 4 units on any day), moderate (≥ 4 units on 1–3 days) and high‐risk (≥ 4 units on ≥ 4 days in 1 week). Partner alcohol use was also defined as light, moderate and high risk. Socio‐economic variables were included as covariates.FindingsThere was strong evidence of a total effect from maternal alcohol use to young adult alcohol use [moderate: b = 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.64, 1.49, P < 0.001; high risk: b = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.07, 2.35, P < 0.001]. The majority of this association was explained through early alcohol initiation (moderate: b = 0.14, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.25, P = 0.01; high risk: b = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.07, 0.40, P < 0.01) and early alcohol initiation/associating with deviant peers (moderate: b = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.02, 0.10, P < 0.01; high risk: b = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.16, P < 0.01). There was strong evidence of a remaining direct effect (moderate: b = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.39, 1.22, P < 0.001; high risk: b = 1.28, 95% CI = 0.65, 1.91, P < 0.001). A similar pattern of results was evident for partner alcohol use.ConclusionsYoung adults whose parents have moderate or high‐risk alcohol consumption are more likely to consume alcohol than those with parents with lower alcohol consumption. This association appears to be partly accounted for by earlier alcohol use initiation and higher prevalence of association with deviant peers.
Highlights
Parental alcohol use Maternal alcohol use: Reponses were converted into units e.g., 1⁄2 pint of ‘beer, larger, or cider’, ‘sherry and others’, one pub measure ‘spirit’, and ‘other alcoholic drinks’ reflects 1 unit of alcohol; one glass of wine reflects two units of alcohol, ‘ready mix drinks’ reflects 1.5 units of alcohol; and ‘low alcoholic drinks’ reflects 0.5 of a unit of alcohol
How often do your carers / parents know what you do during your free time? 2
How often do you keep secrets from your carers / parents about what you do during your free time? 5
Summary
Inverse probability weighting Inverse probability weighting (IPW) was used to investigate the possible influence of selective participation on our estimates of association between parental alcohol use and alcohol use in young adulthood. Estimates were weighted to account for probabilities of nonresponse in the alcohol outcome. The process of weighting allows a greater weight to be given to individuals who have similar prenatal characteristics to those individuals who are likely to subsequently be lost to the study. The reciprocal of the predicted probabilities from this model were used as sampling weights to adjust the regression models of interest. Due to the potential for extreme weighted values adversely influencing subsequent analyses, larger weights were trimmed to 10
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