Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 34, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 277-280
Addictive Behaviors

Child abuse and neglect: Relations to adolescent binge drinking in the national longitudinal study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.10.023Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between child maltreatment and adolescent binge drinking. Given that many victimized children have been maltreated in multiple ways, we examine the effects of co-occurrence of multiple types of maltreatment on adolescent binge drinking. We used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth), which included a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n = 12,748). Adolescent binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks in a row at least 2–3 times per month in the past year. Among those reporting any maltreatment, 12.4% reported binge drinking compared to 9.9% among those reporting no maltreatment. Logistic regression models found that child maltreatment is a robust risk factor for adolescent binge drinking controlling for parental alcoholism. In particular, all types of or combinations of types of maltreatment were strongly associated with adolescent binge drinking, controlling for age, gender, race, parental alcoholism and monitoring. Research examining the effect of childhood maltreatment on later alcohol abuse needs to recognize the clustering effects of multiple types of childhood maltreatment on alcohol problems.

Introduction

Adolescent binge drinking, typically defined as the consumption of five or more alcoholic drinks on a single occasion at least once every 2 weeks (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 2002), is a major public health problem. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (SAMHSA, 2007) found that among the 10.8 million underage drinkers aged 12 to 20 in 2005, nearly one-fifth (18.8%) were binge drinkers with more males (21.3%) than females (16.1%) reporting participated in heavy episodic drinking in the past 12 months. Not only is adolescent binge drinking prevalent, but excessive consumption of alcohol by adolescents has been associated with a host of immediate and long-term adverse outcomes including obesity and high blood pressure (Oesterle et al., 2004), neurobehavioral and cognitive symptoms (e.g., headaches, difficulty concentrating, trouble remembering, trouble learning; Brook et al., 2002, Scheier and Botvin, 1995), unwanted and unprotected sexual activity (Fergusson and Lynskey, 1996, Smart, 1996, Thakker, 1998), unsafe driving practices and motor vehicle crashes (Copeland, Shope, & Waller, 1996; Oesterle et al., 2004, Zakrajsek and Shope, 2006), poor academic attainment (Hill, White, Chung, Hawkins, & Catalano, 2000), and adult alcohol disorder (Schulenberg et al., 1996).

Since adolescent binge drinking occurs in an extraordinary period when adolescents experience dramatic changes in their bodies, affects, and social environment, a successful examination of adolescent binge drinking must take into account not only excessive drinking itself but its developmental contexts. The first Call to Action against youth alcohol problems made by the Surgeon General stressed that if underage drinking is to be reduced and prevented, it must be understood in its developmental contexts including individual, family, and environmental influences (US DHHS, 2007). Understanding the effects of adverse childhood experiences such as child abuse and neglect on adolescent binge drinking is one example.

Childhood maltreatment has been linked to alcohol abuse and dependence among an adult population (Anda et al., 2002, Dube et al., 2002). In adult literature, a relatively large body of studies has reported that child maltreatment increases an individual's risk for alcohol abuse, although current evidence is not sufficient to support this relationship among male adults who had been victims of childhood maltreatment (Dube et al., 2002, Widom and Hiller-Sturmhofel, 2001). However, few studies have examined the effect of childhood victimization on adolescent binge drinking. Examination of this association is important for understanding the common pattern of alcohol consumption among adolescents with child abuse and neglect. In addition, although researchers and practitioners have long been aware of the co-occurrence of different types of maltreatment on an individual (Banyard, 1999, Bensley et al., 1999 Felitti et al., 1998; McCauley et al., 1997; McGee, Wolfe, Yuen, Wilson, & Carnochan, 1995; Rorty, Yager, & Rossotto, 1994), researchers have rarely examined the joint effect of the co-occurrence of multiple categories of maltreatment on adolescent binge drinking.

Using a nationally representative community sample of adolescents, the current study examines the relations between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adolescent binge drinking. The present study will contribute to knowledge about: (1) whether childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for adolescent binge drinking; and (2) how the co-occurrence of multiple categories of maltreatment influences heavy episodic drinking in adolescence.

Section snippets

Participants

The Add Health is a national longitudinal study that explored the influence of social environment on health in adolescence (grades 7 through 12). The first wave of data collection was conducted in 1995 with 20,745 adolescents completing in-home interviews (79% response rate). Of these 20,745 adolescents, 18,255 (88%) were interviewed at Wave II in 1996, and 15,197 (73%) were interviewed at Wave III in 2002. The present study uses the 12,748 respondents who were interviewed at all three waves

Prevalence of adolescent binge drinking

Table 1 shows the sample characteristics and prevalence of binge drinking. Slightly over one-tenth (11%) consumed five or more drinks in a row at least 2–3 times per month. Adolescents who had been maltreated in childhood were more likely to report binge drinking (12.4%) than those who had not been maltreated (9.9%).

Childhood maltreatment and adolescent binge drinking

First, using logistic regression analysis, the association between exposure to any maltreatment and adolescent binge drinking was examined, controlling for sociodemographic

Discussion

Research studies identifying risks for adolescent binge drinking have found a myriad of contributors ranging from genetic influences to environmental risk factors (Enoch, 2006). The current study found that childhood maltreatment is a robust risk factor for adolescent binge drinking. However, when the traditional method of maltreatment classification, where an individual is classified as ever experiencing one type of maltreatment, was used, childhood maltreatment was not associated with

Acknowledgment

This study is supported by National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Grant P60 AA013759. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAAA or the NIH. This research used data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris and funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01-HD31921), with cooperative

References (28)

  • CopelandL.A. et al.

    Factors in adolescent drinking and driving: Binge drinking, cigarette smoking, and gender

    Journal of School Health

    (1996)
  • EnochM.

    Genetic and environmental influences on the development of alcoholism. Resilience vs. risk

    Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

    (2006)
  • FelittiV.J. et al.

    Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study

    American Journal of Preventive Medicine

    (1998)
  • FergussonD.M. et al.

    Alcohol misuse and adolescent sexual behaviors and risk taking

    Pediatrics

    (1996)
  • Cited by (130)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text