Citation

Thompson RG, Shmulewitz D, Meyers JL, Stohl M, Aharonovich E, Spivak B, Weizman A, Frisch A, Grant BF, Hasin DS. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014; 141: 85-91.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. Electronic address: dsh2@columbia.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.05.009

PMID

24939440

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Parental divorce and psychopathology are well-documented risk factors for alcohol use disorders (AUD) in the United States and other countries where divorce is common and per capita total alcohol consumption is moderate to high. However, little is known about these relationships in countries where divorce and alcohol problems are less common, such as Israel.

METHODS: Israeli adult household residents (N=797) age 21-45 were interviewed in person between 2007 and 2009. Logistic regression models were used to examine main and additive interaction effects of parental divorce and psychopathology on lifetime DSM-IV AUD, adjusting for age, gender, and ethnicity.

RESULTS: Parental divorce (OR=2.18, p≤0.001) and parental psychopathology (OR=1.61, p≤0.01) were independently associated with lifetime AUD and, when considered together, showed significant interaction (p=0.026). Specifically, the effect of divorce on AUD was only significant among those who also reported parental psychopathology.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study showing the influence of parental divorce and psychopathology on risk for AUD among Israeli adults, where both divorce and AUD are less common than in the United States. Alcohol prevention and treatment professionals should recognize that children who experience parental divorce and/or psychopathology could be more vulnerable to later developing AUD than those whose parents remain together and without psychopathology.

Language: en