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Early adolescence is a dynamic period for the development of alcohol appraisals (expected outcomes of drinking and subjective evaluations of expected outcomes), yet the literature provides a limited understanding of psychosocial factors that shape these appraisals during this period. This study took a comprehensive view of alcohol appraisals and considered positive and negative alcohol outcome expectancies, as well as subjective evaluations of expected outcomes. Developmental-ecological theory guided examination of individual, peer, family, and neighborhood predictors of cognitive appraisals of alcohol and use. A community sample of 378 adolescents (X-bar age 11.5 years at Wave 1 (W1), 52% female) was assessed annually for 4 years. Longitudinal path analysis suggested that the most robust predictors of alcohol appraisals were peer norms. Furthermore, perceived likelihood of positive and negative alcohol outcomes prospectively predicted increases in drinking. There was limited support for appraisals operating as mediators of psychosocial risk and protective factors.

A developmental cascade model for adolescent substance use beginning in infancy was examined in a sample of children with alcoholic and nonalcoholic parents. The model examined the role of parents' alcohol diagnoses, depression and antisocial behavior in a cascading process of risk via 3 major hypothesized pathways: first, via parental warmth/sensitivity from toddler to kindergarten age predicting higher parental monitoring in middle childhood through early adolescence, serving as a protective pathway for adolescent substance use; second, via child low self-regulation in the preschool years to a continuing externalizing behavior problem pathway leading to underage drinking and higher engagement with substance using peers; and third, via higher social competence from kindergarten age through middle childhood being protective against engagement with delinquent and substance using peers, and leading to lower adolescent substance use. The sample consisted of 227 intact families recruited from the community at 12 months of child age. Results were supportive for the first 2 pathways to substance use in late adolescence. Among proximal, early adolescent risks, engagement with delinquent peers and parent's acceptance of underage drinking were significant predictors of late adolescent alcohol and marijuana use. The results highlight the important protective roles of maternal warmth/sensitivity in early childhood to kindergarten age, parental monitoring in middle childhood, and of child self-regulation in the preschool period as reducing risk for externalizing behavior problems, underage drinking, and engagement with delinquent peers in early adolescence. Specific implications for the creation of developmentally fine-tuned preventive intervention are discussed.

This study examined the association between parents' alcoholism and peer bullying and victimization in middle childhood in 162 community-recruited families (80 girls and 82 boys) with and without alcohol problems. Toddler-mother attachment was assessed at 18 months of child age, and child reports of peer bullying and victimization were obtained in 4th grade. There was a direct association between fathers' alcohol symptoms and bullying of peers, as well as indirect association via toddler-mother attachment security. Multiple group models indicated that the direct association between parents' alcohol symptoms and bullying was significant for boys but not girls. The association between maternal alcohol symptoms and bullying was significant for secure but not insecure boys or secure/insecure girls. The association between fathers' alcohol symptoms and bullying was significant for insecure boys but not secure boys or secure/insecure girls. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

Introduction: As electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become more prevalent among adolescents, there is a growing body of evidence linking e-cigarette use to the initiation of other substances. Whether there is a threshold level of e-cigarette use that is predictive of other substance use is unknown. The current study examines patterns of e-cigarette use over time and determines whether different patterns of early adolescent e-cigarette use are concurrently and prospectively associated with alcohol and marijuana use in late adolescence., Method: Eight hundred and one adolescents (13-15 years old at baseline recruitment) completed five on-line surveys over a two-year period. Latent class growth analysis was used to model different developmental courses of e-cigarette, alcohol (drinking to intoxication), and marijuana use. Logistic regression was used to test the association between e-cigarette use trajectory patterns and alcohol and marijuana use trajectories., Results: Three developmental courses of e-cigarette use were identified: 1) high and increasing, 2) low and increasing, and 3) never. Compared to adolescents who had never used e-cigarettes, those in the other two groups were more likely to have been intoxicated and to be in the moderate and increasing marijuana use group., Conclusion: Both high and low levels of e-cigarette use patterns are associated with increasing use of other substances (alcohol and marijuana use) over time. Findings highlight the need for early intervention and prevention of e-cigarette use among adolescents., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Food reinforcement refers to how hard someone is motivated to work to gain access to food. Infant temperament is defined as behavioral styles, or constitutionally based individual differences in reactive and regulatory aspects of behavior. Identifying correlates of food reinforcement, such as infant temperament, may help identify infants at risk for future negative health consequences (e.g., overweight or obesity) of high food reinforcement., Methods: This study tested aspects of parent-reported negative reactivity and regulation and their associations with relative food reinforcement in a cross-sectional sample of 105 9- to 18-month-old infants. Hierarchical linear regression models were then used to predict infant food reinforcement for the temperament dimensions that were significantly related to it., Results: Two temperament dimensions, cuddliness (regulatory aspect) (B = -0.050, ΔR 2  = 0.074, p = 0.005) and rate of recovery from distress and arousal (reactive aspect) (B = -0.040, ΔR 2  = 0.045, p = 0.031), were inversely associated with relative food reinforcement., Conclusion: Clarifying the nature of relationships between these two behavioral predictors, infant temperament and relative food reinforcement, and early obesity can elucidate the role of individual differences in early obesity risk and can further inform targets for early behavioral obesity preventive interventions.

Background: Rapid weight gain in infancy is associated with a higher risk of obesity in children and adults. A high relative reinforcing value of food is cross-sectionally related to obesity; lean children find nonfood alternatives more reinforcing than do overweight/obese children. However, to our knowledge, there is no research on how and when food reinforcement develops., Objective: This study was designed to assess whether the reinforcing value of food and nonfood alternatives could be tested in 9- to 18-mo-old infants and whether the reinforcing value of food and nonfood alternatives is differentially related to infant weight status., Design: Reinforcing values were assessed by using absolute progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement, with presentation of food and nonfood alternatives counterbalanced in 2 separate studies. Two nonfood reinforcers [Baby Einstein-Baby MacDonald shows (study 1, n = 27) or bubbles (study 2, n = 30)] were tested against the baby's favorite food. Food reinforcing ratio (FRR) was quantified by measuring the reinforcing value of food (Food Pmax) in proportion to the total reinforcing value of food and a nonfood alternative (DVD Pmax or BUB Pmax)., Results: Greater weight-for-length z score was associated with a greater FRR of a favorite food in study 1 (FRR-DVD) (r = 0.60, P < 0.001) and FRR of a favorite food in study 2 (FRR-BUB) (r = 0.49, P = 0.006), primarily because of the strong association between greater weight-for-length z score and lower DVD Pmax (r = -0.71, P < 0.0001) and BUB Pmax (r = -0.53, P = 0.003). Infant monthly weight gain was positively associated with FRR-DVD (r = 0.57, P = 0.009) and FRR-BUB (r = 0.37, P = 0.047)., Conclusions: Our newly developed paradigm, which tested 2 different nonfood alternatives, demonstrated that lean infants find nonfood alternatives more reinforcing than do overweight/obese infants. This observation suggests that strengthening the alternative reinforcers may have a protective effect against childhood obesity., (© 2015 American Society for Nutrition.)

Objective: This article examines the association between fathers' alcohol problems and children's effortful control during the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence (fourth to sixth grade). Additionally, we examined the role of two potential moderators of this association, fathers' antisocial behavior and child gender., Method: The sample consisted of 197 families (102 nonalcoholic [NA]; 95 father alcoholic [FA], in which only the father met diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence). The sample was recruited from New York State birth records when the children were 12 months old. This analysis focused on 12-month alcohol problem data and child effortful control data measured in the fourth and sixth grades., Results: Structural equation modeling revealed that FA status was associated with lower effortful control on the Stroop Color and Word and Tower of London tasks in the sixth grade, but antisocial behavior did not moderate this association. Multiple group analysis revealed that FA status was associated with higher Stroop interference scores in fourth and sixth grade and lower move scores on the Tower of London task for boys but not girls., Conclusions: The association between FA status and effortful control may be attenuated in middle childhood (fourth grade) but emerge again in early adolescence (sixth grade). The results indicate that sons of alcoholics may be particularly vulnerable to poor self-regulatory strategies and that early adolescence may be an important time for intervening with these families to facilitate higher self-regulation before the transition to high school.

This study utilized a longitudinal design to examine relations between paternal alcoholism, paternal psychopathology, marital aggression and fathers' harsh parenting behavior in a sample of children with alcoholic (n = 89) and non-alcoholic (n = 94) fathers. Structural Equation Modeling revealed that paternal alcoholism, depression, and antisocial behavior at 12 months of child age each predicted higher levels of marital aggression at 36 months. Moreover, after controlling for prior parenting, marital aggression was predictive of harsher parenting at kindergarten. Alcoholism and psychopathology were not directly predictive of harsh parenting with marital aggression included in the model, thus indicating that marital aggression is mediating the relation between paternal risk factors and parenting outcome. Results of this study suggest that one pathway linking fathers' alcohol diagnosis to harsh parenting is via marital aggression., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Given the documented association between paternal alcoholism and negative parenting behaviors, the purpose of this study was to examine longitudinally whether marital satisfaction mediates this relationship. Participants consisted of 197 families (102 without an alcoholic father, 95 with an alcoholic father) who were assessed at three time points: when children were 12, 24, and 36 months old. Results indicated that paternal alcoholism at 12 months was associated with decreased marital satisfaction at 24 months for both mothers and fathers. Marital satisfaction at 24 months in turn was associated with decreases in parental warmth and sensitivity at 36 months. Furthermore, marital satisfaction mediated the association between paternal alcoholism and parental warmth and sensitivity for both mothers and fathers. The implications of these findings for interventions for alcoholic families are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model predicting children's externalizing behavior problems in kindergarten in a sample of children with alcoholic (n = 130) and nonalcoholic (n = 97) parents. The model examined the role of parents' alcohol diagnoses, depression, and antisocial behavior at 12-18 months of child age in predicting parental warmth/sensitivity at 2 years of child age. Parental warmth/sensitivity at 2 years was hypothesized to predict children's self-regulation at 3 years (effortful control and internalization of rules), which in turn was expected to predict externalizing behavior problems in kindergarten. Structural equation modeling was largely supportive of this conceptual model. Fathers' alcohol diagnosis at 12-18 months was associated with lower maternal and paternal warmth/sensitivity at 2 years. Lower maternal warmth/sensitivity was longitudinally predictive of lower child self-regulation at 3 years, which in turn was longitudinally predictive of higher externalizing behavior problems in kindergarten, after controlling for prior behavior problems. There was a direct association between parents' depression and children's externalizing behavior problems. Results indicate that one pathway to higher externalizing behavior problems among children of alcoholics may be via parenting and self-regulation in the toddler to preschool years., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.)