Citation

Schuckit MA, Danko GP, Smith TL. J. Stud. Alcohol 2004; 65(5): 613-620.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry (116A), University of California, San Diego, USA. mschuckit@ucsd.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15536771

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and abuse or dependence on illicit substances often co-exist. Most studies evaluating these phenomena have focused on less well-educated individuals, using cross-sectional designs. This study controls for several factors that might contribute to a propensity toward both alcohol and substance-related conditions in a prospective follow-up of middle-class men. METHOD: The subjects (N = 249) were white sons of alcoholics and controls, followed for 20 years using structured interviews. They were evaluated at baseline and again 10, 15 and 20 years later. RESULTS: One in five subjects developed an illicit substance-related disorder by the 20-year follow-up, most commonly abuse or dependence on cannabinoids and/or stimulants. The men with these diagnoses were more likely to be recent smokers, to also fulfill criteria for alcoholism and to have a family history of a stimulant use disorder. They were not more likely to have family histories of alcoholism, did not have a lower response to alcohol at age 20 and had no enhanced risk for independent psychiatric disorders, although they did have relatives with manic depressive disease. CONCLUSIONS: Disorders related to illicit substances were common in this well-educated, highly functional population. Substance-related comorbidity with alcoholism did not seem to reflect several factors known to predict AUDs (e.g., family history of alcoholism and a low response to alcohol). The diagnostic overlap between AUDs and illicit substance-related disorders might reflect concomitant family histories of alcoholism and substance-related conditions and, perhaps, family histories of manic depressive disease.

Language: en