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The Effects of Childhood and Adolescent Adversity on Substance Use Disorders and Poor Health in Early Adulthood

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Abstract

Childhood and adolescent adversity have been shown to predict later mental and physical health outcomes. Understanding which aspects and developmental timings of adversity are important, and the mechanisms by which they have their impact may help guide intervention approaches. A large subset of adolescents (N = 457; Female 68.9 %) from the 10-year longitudinal Youth Emotion Project was examined to better understand the associations among childhood/adolescent adversity, substance use disorder, and later health quality. Adolescent (but not childhood) adversities were associated with poorer health in late adolescence/early adulthood, adolescent adversities were associated with subsequent onset of substance use disorder, and adolescent adversities continued to be associated with poorer health in late adolescence/early adulthood after accounting for the variance explained by substance use disorder onset. These associations were observed after statistically accounting for emotional disorders and socioeconomic status. Specific domains of adversity uniquely predicted substance use disorder and poorer health outcomes. In contrast with current recent research, our findings suggest the association between childhood/adolescent adversity and poorer health outcomes in late adolescence and emerging adulthood are not entirely accounted for by substance use disorder, suggesting efforts to curtail family-based adolescent adversity may have downstream health benefits.

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Authors’ Contributions

K.W. and A.R.S. developed the research questions, conducted data analysis, and prepared the manuscript. S.V. assisted with manuscript preparation and data analysis. L.B. assisted with data management and manuscript editing. E.K.A. and C.H. provided manuscript feedback and revisions. R.E.Z., S.M., and M.G.C. developed the research design of the YEP and provided manuscript editing and feedback. All authors were involved in either the design of the project or data collection, and all approved the final version of the manuscript.

Funding

The research reported and the preparation of this article was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants R01 MH65651 and R01 MH65652 to Michelle G. Craske, Susan Mineka, and Richard E. Zinbarg.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California-Los Angeles, 11075 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA, 90025, USA

    Kate Wolitzky-Taylor

  2. Department of Psychology, University of California-Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall-Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Amy Sewart, Constance Hammen & Michelle G. Craske

  3. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, 296 Eberhart Building, PO Box 26170 | Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, Greensboro, NC, 27412, USA

    Suzanne Vrshek-Schallhorn

  4. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road - 102 Swift Hall, Evanston, IL, 60208-2710, USA

    Richard Zinbarg & Susan Mineka

  5. Clinical Psychology, Adler University, 17 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL, 60602, USA

    Lyuba Bobova

  6. School of Education and Social Policy and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Emma K. Adam

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  1. Kate Wolitzky-Taylor
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  2. Amy Sewart
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  3. Suzanne Vrshek-Schallhorn
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  4. Richard Zinbarg
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  8. Emma K. Adam
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  9. Michelle G. Craske
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Correspondence to Michelle G. Craske.

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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.

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Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Sewart, A., Vrshek-Schallhorn, S. et al. The Effects of Childhood and Adolescent Adversity on Substance Use Disorders and Poor Health in Early Adulthood. J Youth Adolescence 46, 15–27 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0566-3

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