Citation

Waldron M, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Duncan AE, Sartor CE, Heath AC. J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 2014; 75(2): 235-240.

Affiliation

Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

24650817

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between reproductive onset and history of alcohol dependence (AD) in 475 African ancestry (AA) and 2,865 European or other ancestry (EA) female twins.

METHOD: Participants were drawn from a U.S. midwestern birth cohort study of like-sex female twin pairs born between 1975 and 1985, ages 21-32 as of last completed assessment. Cox proportional hazards regression models were estimated predicting age at first childbirth from history of AD, separately by race/ethnicity, without and with adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, history of other substance involvement, psychopathology, and family and childhood risks.

RESULTS: Among EA twins, AD predicted early childbearing through age 17 and delayed childbearing from age 25 onward; in adjusted models, AD was associated with overall delayed childbearing. Among AA twins, reproductive timing and AD were not significantly related in either unadjusted or adjusted models.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings for twins of European ancestry are consistent with well-documented links between early alcohol mis/use and teenage parenting as well as delays in childbearing associated with drinking-related reproductive and relationship difficulties. Extension of analyses to other racial/ethnic groups of sufficient sample size remains important. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 75, 235-240, 2014).

Language: en