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The aim of this National Institute of Drug Abuse -funded research project is to understand the role that childhood conduct disorder plays in the development of substance-use problems in early adulthood. Although early conduct problems are known to mark risk for later substance use, it has not been established whether and how conduct disorder plays a causal role in substance use.
Past methodological problems of cross-sectional designs, small samples of convenience, and no replication of findings will be overcome through:
1) new data collection using prospective inquiry with a community sample;
2) replication with an independent sample;
3) analysis of a large sample of early-starting conduct-problem youth; and
4) a prevention experiment with diverse samples from multiple sites. A transactional developmental model will guide hypothesis testing.
The samples come from the Center's two independent ongoing, NIH-funded studies of conduct disorder: the Child Development Project (CDP) and Fast Track (FT).
The CDP has followed a community sample of 585 youth (50 percent girls; 17 percent African-American) at three sites (Nashville, TN; Knoxville, TN; Bloomington, IN) from preschool through age 20. Annual assessments of social ecology, parenting, peer relations, and child behavior have been completed with high (84 percent) retention of participants. The proposed project will bring a new focus on substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs), abuse, dependence, and disorder, which will be assessed biannually through age 23.
The FT Project is a multi-site (Durham, NC; Nashville, TN; Seattle, WA, and rural PA) clinical trial, in which 891 early-starting, conduct-problem youth (31 percent girls; 51 percent African-American) were assigned randomly in kindergarten to receive (or not) a 10-year comprehensive intervention to prevent conduct disorder and have been followed through age 18 with high (83 percent) retention of participants. FT also includes prospective follow-up of a normative sample of 387 youth (50 percent girls; 43 percent African-American) from the same sites. In the proposed project, new comprehensive assessment of substance-use problems will be completed at age 19.
Research Objectives:
1. To understand how early conduct disorder leads to substance-use problems. A transactional developmental model will be tested that posits child dispositions and family adversity as early risk factors for later substance-use problems.
2. To understand processes of resilience to substance-use development among conduct-problem children. This aim will be tested by following the 446 early-starting conduct-problem children from the FT control group into young adulthood.
3. To test the efficacy of a conduct-disorder prevention program in preventing substance-use problems in young adulthood. The FT intervention group will be contrasted with the control group to test the hypotheses that the FT intervention is efficacious in preventing substance-use problems and that the mechanism of effect operates through its impact on reducing conduct disorder, improving parental monitoring, and reducing associations with deviant peers.
Related Publications
For more information , contact :
Kenneth A. Dodge , Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Jennifer Lansford , Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Shari Miller-Johnson, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Patrick S. Malone , Ph.D. Co-Principal Investigator
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