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

Addict Behav. 2009 Mar;34(3):277-80. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.10.023. Epub 2008 Nov 5.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Health Services / statistics & numerical data
  • Alcoholism / psychology*
  • Child
  • Child Abuse / psychology*
  • Child of Impaired Parents / psychology*
  • Ethanol / poisoning*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Risk Assessment
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Ethanol