%0 Journal Article %J J Sex Res %D 2014 %T Sexual risk behavior in young adulthood: broadening the scope beyond early sexual initiation. %A Epstein, Marina %A Bailey, Jennifer A %A Manhart, Lisa E %A Hill, Karl G %A Hawkins, J D %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Adult %K Child %K Female %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Risk-Taking %K Sexual Behavior %K Time Factors %K Young Adult %X

A robust link between early sexual initiation and sexual risk-taking behavior is reported in previous studies. The relationship may not be causal, however, as the effect of common risk factors is often not considered. The current study examined whether early initiation was a key predictor of risky sexual behavior in the 20s and 30s, over and above co-occurring individual and environmental factors. Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a longitudinal panel of 808 youth. Early predictors (ages 10 to 15) and sexual risk taking (ages 21 to 24 and 30 to 33) were assessed prospectively. Early sexual initiation (before age 15) was entered into a series of probit regressions that also included family, neighborhood, peer, and individual risk factors. Although a positive bivariate relation between early sexual initiation and sexual risk taking was observed at both ages, the link did not persist when co-occurring risk factors were included. Behavioral disinhibition and antisocial peer influences emerged as the strongest predictors of sexual risk over and above early sexual initiation. These results suggest that early sexual initiation must be considered in the context of common antecedents; public health policy aimed at delaying sexual intercourse alone is unlikely to substantially reduce sexual risk behavior in young adulthood.

%B J Sex Res %V 51 %P 721-30 %8 2014 %G eng %N 7 %R 10.1080/00224499.2013.849652 %0 Journal Article %J J Stud Alcohol Drugs %D 2011 %T Sensitive periods for adolescent alcohol use initiation: Predicting the lifetime occurrence and chronicity of alcohol problems in adulthood. %A Guttmannova, Katarina %A Bailey, Jennifer A %A Hill, Karl G %A Lee, Jungeun O %A Hawkins, J D %A Woods, M L %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adult %K Age Factors %K Age of Onset %K Alcohol Drinking %K Alcohol-Related Disorders %K Alcoholism %K Child %K Ethanol %K Female %K Forecasting %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Risk %K Social Environment %K Socioeconomic Factors %K Substance-Related Disorders %K Time Factors %X

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between age at alcohol use onset and adult alcohol misuse and dependence by testing the sensitive-period hypothesis that early adolescence (11-14) is a vulnerable period of development during which initiating alcohol use is particularly harmful.

METHOD: Data came from a longitudinal panel of 808 participants recruited in 1981. Participants were followed through age 33 in 2008 with 92% retention.

RESULTS: Onset of alcohol use before age 11 (late childhood), when compared with initiation during early adolescence, was related to an increased chronicity of adult alcohol dependence, even after accounting for sociodemographic controls and other substance use in adolescence. The present study finds no evidence that early adolescence is a particularly sensitive period for the onset of alcohol use. Findings related to the onset of regular alcohol use and the chronicity of alcohol dependence suggest that the onset of regular drinking before age 21 is problematic, but no one adolescent period is more sensitive than others. Specifically, although all age groups that started drinking regularly before age 21 had a greater rate of alcohol dependence in adulthood, initiation of regular use of alcohol at or before age 14 was not related to greater chronicity of alcohol dependence than the initiation of regular use of alcohol in middle or late adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the importance of delaying the onset of alcohol use through prevention efforts as early as the elementary grades. In addition, prevention efforts should focus on preventing the onset of regular drinking before age 21.

%B J Stud Alcohol Drugs %V 72 %P 221-31 %8 2011 Mar %G eng %N 2 %0 Journal Article %J Drug Alcohol Depend %D 2011 %T Strategies for characterizing complex phenotypes and environments: General and specific family environmental predictors of young adult tobacco dependence, alcohol use disorder, and co-occurring problems. %A Bailey, Jennifer A %A Hill, Karl G %A Meacham, Meredith C %A Young, Susan E %A Hawkins, J D %K Adolescent %K Alcohol Drinking %K Alcoholism %K Child %K Family %K Female %K HIV Infections %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Risk Factors %K Risk-Taking %K Sexual Behavior %K Smoking %K Social Environment %K Tobacco Use Disorder %K Young Adult %X

BACKGROUND: Defining phenotypes in studies of tobacco and alcohol misuse is difficult because of the complexity of these behaviors and their strong association with each other and with other problem behaviors. The present paper suggests a strategy for addressing this issue by conceptualizing and partitioning variance in phenotypes into either general or substance/behavior-specific. The paper also applies the general or substance/behavior-specific conceptualization to environmental predictors of tobacco and alcohol misuse and other problem behaviors.

METHODS: Data were drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a contemporary, ethnically diverse and gender-balanced longitudinal panel including 808 participants. Latent variable modeling was used to partition variance in young adult (age 24) nicotine dependence, alcohol abuse and dependence, illicit drug abuse and dependence, involvement in crime, and engagement in HIV sexual risk behavior into general problem behavior and behavior-specific variance. Similarly, measures of general, drinking-specific, and smoking-specific adolescent family environment were constructed.

RESULTS: Consistent with expectations, more positive general family environment during adolescence was associated with lower levels of shared variance in problem behaviors at age 24, but not with unique variance in tobacco or alcohol use disorder. Higher levels of family smoking and drinking environments during adolescence, however, were positively associated with unique variance in tobacco and alcohol use disorder, respectively, but did not predict shared variance in problem behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS: Results support the utility of the proposed approach. Ways in which this approach might contribute to future molecular genetic studies are discussed.

%B Drug Alcohol Depend %V 118 %P 444-51 %8 2011 Nov 1 %G eng %N 2-3 %R 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.05.002