Familial Transmission of Alcohol Use: IV. A Seventeen-Year Follow-up on the Relationships between Parent and Adult Offspring Alcohol Use; Tecumseh, Michigan

• Published in: International journal of epidemiology 1991-06, Vol.20 (2), p.441-447
• Main Authors: GLEIBERMAN, LILLIAN, HARBURG, ERNEST, DI FRANCEISCO, WAYNE, SCHORK, ANTHONY
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Family - psychology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Michigan; Middle Aged; Parents - psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Surveys and Questionnaires; Temperance
• ISSN: 0300-5771; 1464-3685
• DOI: 10.1093/ije/20.2.441

The sample for this study comprised 190 three member sets of father, mother, and adult son daughter who were first interview in 1960 as part of cardivascular Examination I of the Tecumseh community Health Study. At that time, alcohol data were collected from self-reports for both parents and offspring. In 1977 alcohol data were again collected for the adult offspring only, from self-reports. In 1960 offspring's drinking was significantly related to both fathers' and mothers' drinking and remained so in 1977 despite shifts over time in the proportions of offspring across five alcohol use categories. The majority of offspring did not fall into their parents' category, but the mode by and large reflected the parent category. The majority of offspring of non-drinkers did drink, but at low and not high volume; the majority of offspring of high volume drinkers drank at lowers level than their parents, and were not likely to be life-long abstainers, although they may have become past drinkers. Two non-drinking in thier adult offspring and two drinking parents reinforced the early onset and persistence of high volume drinking. Among offspring who changed their drinking level between 1960 and 1977, those who had drunk less than thier parents were the mostly likely to have increased their drinking, and those who had more than parents were the most likely to have decreased their drinking. Patterns observed in this study may be viewed as intramilial sources of stability transmitted across generations in a single community.