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Impact of Parental Substance Use Disorder and Child Neglect Severity on Substance Use Involvement in Male Offspring

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Abstract

Two child self-report scales were developed to measure parental neglect (emotional distance and parental involvement) in a sample of 344 boys between 10 and 12 years of age. Psychometric analyses of the parental emotional distance and involvement scales demonstrated their unidimensionality; construct, concurrent, and predictive validity; and reliability. Cross-sectional analyses indicated that neglect was more severe among boys who had a parent with a DSM-III-R lifetime substance use disorder (SUD) compared to youth whose parents had no Axis I psychiatric disorder. In addition, children reported more severe neglect by the mother than the father. Longitudinal analyses of a subsample (n = 99) revealed that child neglect at ages 10–12 predicted significant variance on a composite measure of substance use involvement and severity of substance use as well as increased the risk for SUD at age 19.

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  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Levent Kirisci, Marija G. Dunn, Ada C. Mezzich & Ralph E. Tarter

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  1. Levent Kirisci
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Kirisci, L., Dunn, M.G., Mezzich, A.C. et al. Impact of Parental Substance Use Disorder and Child Neglect Severity on Substance Use Involvement in Male Offspring. Prev Sci 2, 241–255 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013662132189

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