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Childhood Adversity and Early Initiation of Alcohol Use in Two Representative Samples of Puerto Rican Youth

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Early alcohol use is associated with multiple negative outcomes later in life, including substance use disorders. Identification of factors related to this very early risk indicator can help inform early prevention efforts. This study prospectively examined the relationship between childhood adversities and early initiation of alcohol use (by age 14) among Puerto Rican youth, the Latino subgroup at highest risk for alcohol use disorders in adulthood. The data come from the Boricua Youth Study, a longitudinal study of Puerto Rican youth in two sites (South Bronx, New York, and the standard metropolitan area of San Juan, Puerto Rico). We focus on youth who were ages 10 and older at Wave 1 [M age at Wave 1 (SE) = 11.64(0.05), N = 1259, 48.85 % females]. Twelve childhood adversities were measured at Wave 1 and include 10 adverse childhood experiences commonly studied and two additional ones (exposure to violence and discrimination) that were deemed relevant for this study’s population. Early initiation of alcohol use was determined based on youth report at Waves 1 through 3 (each wave 1 year apart). Cox proportional hazards models showed that, when considered individually, adversities reflecting child maltreatment, parental maladjustment, and sociocultural stressors were related to early initiation of alcohol use. Significant gender interactions were identified for parental emotional problems and exposure to violence, with associations found among girls only. Adversities often co-occurred, and when they were considered jointly, physical and emotional abuse, parental antisocial personality, and exposure to violence had independent associations with early alcohol use, with a stronger influence of exposure to violence in girls compared to boys. The accumulation of adversities, regardless of the specific type of exposure, increased the risk for starting to drink at a young age in a linear way. The associations between childhood adversities and early alcohol use were generally consistent across sociocultural contexts, in spite of differences in the prevalence of exposure to adversity. Our findings highlight the importance of targeting multiple adversities and expanding the notion of adversity to capture the experiences of specific groups more adequately.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Simrita Sidhu for her assistance in editing and formatting the manuscript.

Authors’ Contributions

MRO conceptualized the study, designed and performed the statistical analyses, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript; HB and GC conceived the design of the study, acquired the data, contributed to the interpretation of the data, and critically reviewed and edited the manuscript. CD contributed to the conceptualization of the study, analysis plan, interpretation of the data, and made substantial contributions to the editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

The Boricua Youth Study has been supported by the National Institute of Health [MH56401 (Bird), DA033172 (Duarte), AA020191 (Duarte), MH098374 (Alegria, Canino, Duarte), HD060072 (Martins, Duarte, Canino), HL125761 (Suglia)]. This work was supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections Junior Investigator Award (Ramos-Olazagasti).

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  1. New York State Psychiatric Institute-Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Dr., Unit #43, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    María A. Ramos-Olazagasti, Héctor R. Bird & Cristiane S. Duarte

  2. Behavioral Sciences Research Institute University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, PO Box 365067, San Juan PR, 00936-5067, USA

    Glorisa J. Canino

Authors
  1. María A. Ramos-Olazagasti
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  2. Héctor R. Bird
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  3. Glorisa J. Canino
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  4. Cristiane S. Duarte
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Correspondence to María A. Ramos-Olazagasti.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. We obtained approval for all study procedures from the New York State Psychiatric Institute and the University of Puerto Rico Medical School.

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Ramos-Olazagasti, M.A., Bird, H.R., Canino, G.J. et al. Childhood Adversity and Early Initiation of Alcohol Use in Two Representative Samples of Puerto Rican Youth. J Youth Adolescence 46, 28–44 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0575-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0575-2

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