Psychopathology and Achievement in Children at High Risk for Developing Alcoholism
- 1 July 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Elsevier BV in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Vol. 38 (7), 883-891
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199907000-00019
Abstract
Objective To compare rates of psychopathology and academic achievement in children who were either at high or low risk for developing alcoholism and to determine whether academic deficits would predict prospectively the presence of psychopathology occurring within the next year. Method Children and adolescents, aged 8 to 18 years, were evaluated as part of a longitudinal follow-up. Diagnoses obtained by using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children and grade-equivalent scores from the reading, spelling, and arithmetic sections of the Wide Range Achievement Test were determined at yearly intervals. Results High-risk offspring were more likely to have a diagnosable disorder. In addition, analyses using the mother's and father's diagnosis of alcoholism as a covariate showed higher hazard ratios for selected disorders (depression, affective disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorder), some of which were gender-dependent. Logistic regression analysis of achievement test scores demonstrated that reading and math scores predicted the presence of childhood psychopathology at the following annual evaluation. Conclusions Children from pedigrees with a high density of alcoholism are at greater risk for developing psychopathology. Furthermore, observed deficits in academic performance may be considered an indicator of a developing diagnosable illness.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA 05909 and AA 08082)
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- P300 amplitudes vary inversely with continuum of risk in first degree male relatives of alcoholicsPsychiatric Genetics, 1995
- Psychopathology in Children of Alcoholic and Antisocial ParentsAlcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 1988
- A Prospective Study of Young Men at High Risk for Alcoholism: Neuropsychological AssessmentAlcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 1985
- Neonatal Neurobehavioral Characteristics as Correlates of Maternal Alcohol Use during GestationAlcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 1985
- The Assessment of Affective Disorders in Children and Adolescents by Semistructured InterviewArchives of General Psychiatry, 1985
- Age Differences in the Reliability of the Psychiatric Interview of the ChildChild Development, 1985
- Event-Related Brain Potentials in Boys at Risk for AlcoholismScience, 1984
- Maternal Inheritance of Alcohol AbuseArchives of General Psychiatry, 1981
- Inheritance of Alcohol AbuseArchives of General Psychiatry, 1981
- Some Genetic Aspects of Alcoholism and CriminalityArchives of General Psychiatry, 1978