Definitional Elasticity in the Measurement of Intergenerational Continuity in Substance Use

• NCJ Number: 252890
• Journal: Child Development Volume: 89 Issue: 5 Dated: 2018 Pages: 1625-1641
• Author(s): Thomas A. Loughran; Pilar Larroulet; Terence P. Thornberry
• Date Published: 2018
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-JN-CX-0007, 96-MU-FX-0014, 2004-MU-FX-0062
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study used longitudinal data on 427 parent-child dyads from the Rochester IG Study to study continuity and discontinuity in substance use over ages 14-18.

Abstract

Increasingly, three generation studies have investigated intergenerational (IG) continuity and discontinuity in substance use and related problem behaviors; however, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the conceptual definition of continuity or to different types of discontinuity (resilience and escalation) or to measurement sensitivity, which affects not only the magnitudes of observed continuity but also factors that correlate with this linkage. Results of the current study suggest that the degree of IG continuity, resilience, and escalation in adolescent substance use, as well as correlates of each, depend heavily on how heterogeneity in the behavior is taken into account. (publisher abstract modified)