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Childhood internalizing symptoms are negatively associated with early adolescent alcohol use.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between childhood internalizing problems and early adolescent alcohol use has been infrequently explored and remains unclear.We employed growth mixture modeling of internalizing symptoms for a large, population-based sample of U.K. children (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort) to identify trajectories of childhood internalizing symptoms from age 4 through age 11.5. We then examined the relationship between membership in each trajectory and alcohol use in early adolescence (reported at age 13.8).Overall, children experiencing elevated levels of internalizing symptoms were less likely to use alcohol in early adolescence. This finding held true across all internalizing trajectories; that is, those exhibiting increasing levels of internalizing symptoms over time, and those whose symptoms desisted over time, were both less likely to use alcohol than their peers who did not exhibit internalizing problems.We conclude that childhood internalizing symptoms, unlike adolescent symptoms, are negatively associated with early adolescent alcohol experimentation. Additional studies are warranted to follow up on our preliminary evidence that symptoms of phobia and separation anxiety drive this effect.

SUBMITTER: Edwards AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4047162 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Childhood internalizing symptoms are negatively associated with early adolescent alcohol use.

Edwards Alexis C AC Latendresse Shawn J SJ Heron Jon J Cho Seung Bin SB Hickman Matt M Lewis Glyn G Dick Danielle M DM Kendler Kenneth S KS

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research 20140521 6

<h4>Background</h4>The relationship between childhood internalizing problems and early adolescent alcohol use has been infrequently explored and remains unclear.<h4>Methods</h4>We employed growth mixture modeling of internalizing symptoms for a large, population-based sample of U.K. children (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort) to identify trajectories of childhood internalizing symptoms from age 4 through age 11.5. We then examined the relationship between membership in ...[more]

PMID: 24848214

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Project description:IMPORTANCE:Early adversity is an important risk factor that relates to internalizing symptoms and altered brain structure. OBJECTIVE:To assess the direct effects of early adversity and child internalizing symptoms (ie, depression, anxiety) on cortical gray matter (GM) volume, as well as the extent to which early adversity associates with variation in cortical GM volume indirectly via increased levels of internalizing symptoms. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:A prospective investigation of associations between adversity within the first 6 years of life, internalizing symptoms during childhood and early adolescence, and altered brain structure in late adolescence (age, 18-21 years) was conducted in a community-based birth cohort in England (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children). Participants from the cohort included 494 mother-son pairs monitored since the mothers were pregnant (estimated date of delivery between April 1, 1991, and December 31, 1992). Data collection for the present study was conducted between April 1, 1991, and November 30, 2010; the neuroimaging data were collected between September 1, 2010, and November 30, 2012, and data analyses for the present study occurred between January 25, 2013, and February 15, 2015. Risk factors were adversity within the first 6 years of the child's life (including prenatal exposure) and the child's internalizing symptoms between age 7 and 13 years. EXPOSURES:Early childhood adversity. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:The main outcome was GM volume of cortical regions previously associated with major depression measured through T1-weighted magnetic resonance images collected in late adolescence. RESULTS:Among 494 young men included in this analysis, early adversity was directly associated with lower GM volumes in the anterior cingulate cortex (? =?-.18; P =?.01) and higher GM volume in the precuneus (? =?.18; P =?.009). Childhood internalizing symptoms were associated with lower GM volume in the right superior frontal gyrus (? =?-.20; P =?.002). Early adversity was also associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms (? =?.37; P <?.001), which, in turn, were associated with lower superior frontal gyrus volume (ie, an indirect effect) (? =?-.08; 95% CI, -0.14 to -0.01; P =?.02). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:Adversity early in life was associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms as well as with altered brain structure. Early adversity was related to variation in brain structure both directly and via increased levels of internalizing symptoms. These findings may suggest that some of the structural variation often attributed to depression might be associated with early adversity in addition to the effect of depression.

Project description:BackgroundPrior findings relating secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure and internalizing problems, characterized by heightened anxiety and depression symptoms, have been equivocal; effects of SHS on neurodevelopment may depend on the presence of other neurotoxicants. Early life stress (ELS) is a known risk factor for internalizing symptoms and is also often concurrent with SHS exposure. To date the interactive effects of ELS and SHS on children's internalizing symptoms are unknown. We hypothesize that children with higher exposure to both prenatal SHS and ELS will have the most internalizing symptoms during the preschool period and the slowest reductions in symptoms over time.MethodsThe present study leveraged a prospective, longitudinal birth cohort of 564 Black and Latinx mothers and their children, recruited between 1998 and 2006. Cotinine extracted from cord and maternal blood at birth served as a biomarker of prenatal SHS exposure. Parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores were examined at four timepoints between preschool and eleven years-old. ELS exposure was measured as a composite of six domains of maternal stress reported at child age five. Latent growth models examined associations between SHS, ELS, and their interaction term with trajectories of children's internalizing symptoms. In follow-up analyses, weighted quintile sum regression examined contributions of components of the ELS mixture to children's internalizing symptoms at each time point.ResultsELS interacted with SHS exposure such that higher levels of ELS and SHS exposure were associated with more internalizing symptoms during the preschool period (β = 0.14, p = 0.03). The interaction between ELS and SHS was also associated with a less negative rate of change in internalizing symptoms over time (β=-0.02, p = 0.01). Weighted quintile sum regression revealed significant contributions of maternal demoralization and other components of the stress mixture to children's internalizing problems at each age point (e.g., age 11 WQS β = 0.26, p < 0.01).ConclusionsOur results suggest that prior inconsistencies in studies of SHS on behavior may derive from unmeasured factors that also influence behavior and co-occur with exposure, specifically maternal stress during children's early life. Findings point to modifiable targets for personalized prevention.

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Childhood internalizing symptoms are negatively associated with early adolescent alcohol use.

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Childhood internalizing symptoms are negatively associated with early adolescent alcohol use.

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