Intergenerational transmission of maternal childhood maltreatment, prenatal substance exposure, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early adolescence at age 12.

Background: Few studies have examined the intergenerational impact of maternal childhood maltreatment (MCM) in the context of prenatal substance exposure (PSE). This study investigates whether PSE is part of the pathway of MCM or an independent risk factor affecting offspring psychopathology.

Methods: Participants were 284 birth mother-child (44% male) dyads, primarily Black, low-income, enrolled at birth.

Cognitive and behavioral pathways from prenatal cocaine exposure to regular marijuana use during emerging adulthood.

Objective: This study considers indirect effects of 12-year global executive function, externalizing behavior (EXT), perceptional reasoning IQ (PRIQ), and 15-year substance use on the relationship between prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) and regular marijuana use at 21 years.

Methods: Participants were 310 (154 PCE, 156 non-prenatally cocaine-exposed (NCE) enrolled at birth. Regular marijuana use at age 21 (> 1-7 times/week) was assessed using the Substance Abuse Module 5 (SAM 5).

The relationships of prenatal cocaine exposure, postnatal lead exposure, and victimization to aggressive behavior/delinquency in adolescence.

Introduction: Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) can alter the monoaminergic neurotransmitter system in the fetal brain related to emotional and behavioral regulation. PCE has been associated with high rates of aggression and delinquency, risk for victimization, and multiple environmental stressors associated with a disadvantaged environment, including postnatal lead exposure. While postnatal lead exposure has also been linked to aggressive behavior/delinquency, little is known about the combined impacts of PCE and lead on behavior, nor how they interact with environmental stressors such as victimization.

Maternal Childhood Trauma and Children's Developmental Course of Aggressive Behavior from Ages 4 to 12.

Objective: A growing literature documents the intergenerational effects of maternal childhood trauma (MCT) on offspring developmental outcomes. However, cross-sectional designs of prior studies limit understanding of long-term effects of MCT on the next generation. We examined the long-term association of MCT with the developmental trajectory of their children's aggressive behavior from preschool years to preadolescence, while considering maternal psychological distress as a potential mediator in a high-risk sample.

Internal assets in low-income urban adolescents from 12 to 17 years: Gender variation.

Utilizing a birth cohort of primarily Black, low-income urban adolescents (N = 371), the present study investigated how internal assets might change over time with sex/gender as a moderator. Internal assets (commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, positive identity) were assessed at ages 12, 15, and 17 via the Developmental Assets Profile. All internal asset domains decreased from 12 to 15 years in both boys and girls, except positive identity in boys.

Infant Behaviors, Prenatal Cocaine Exposure, and Adult Intelligence.

Importance: Linking prenatal drug exposures to both infant behavior and adult cognitive outcomes may improve early interventions.

Objective: To assess whether neonatal physical, neurobehavioral, and infant cognitive measures mediate the association between prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) and adult perceptual reasoning IQ.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study used data from a longitudinal, prospective birth cohort study with follow-up from 1994 to 2018 until offspring were 21 years post partum.

Personal Social Networks of Women with Justice-Involvement in Substance Use Treatment.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a key common correlate of criminal offending among women, yet few studies have explored their personal network characteristics, limiting our understanding of the social context in which justice-involved women with SUD are embedded. The present study interviewed 375 women with SUD, including 299 (80%) women with a history of justice involvement, from three county-funded, women-only intensive treatment programs in the Midwest United States. No difference was observed in multiple personal social network indicators including composition, relationship quality, support availability, and structure, suggesting that these two populations may be more similar than they are distinct.

Association between longitudinal patterns of child maltreatment experiences and adolescent substance use.

Background: Although there is a well-established link between child maltreatment and adolescent substance use, it remains unclear if and how longitudinal patterns of maltreatment experiences are associated with substance use in adolescence.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine how distinct patterns of longitudinal maltreatment experiences are associated with adolescent substance use.

Participants And Setting: The participants were 899 adolescents from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN).

Co-occurrence of Psychopathology Problems in At-Risk Adolescents.

No known studies have investigated co-occurrence of psychopathology problems in adolescents with biologic and/or environmental susceptibility, including prenatal drug exposure. This study identified comorbidity patterns of psychopathology problems by utilizing data from urban, primarily African American, youth, majority of whom were at heightened risk for exposure to drugs in utero. The roles of Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)-informed behavioral constructs of the Negative Valence (irritability) and Social Process Systems (social disinhibition) as antecedents of the comorbidity patterns were further examined.

Prenatal cocaine exposure and self-reported behavioral adjustments from ages 12 to 21: environmental pathways.

Background: In a birth-cohort study, we followed offspring with prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) to investigate longitudinal associations of PCE with self-reported behavioral adjustment from early adolescence to emerging adulthood (EA). Environmental pathways (family functioning, non-kinship care, maltreatment) were specified as potential mediators of PCE.

Methods: Participants were 372 (190 PCE; 47% male), primarily Black, low socioeconomic status, enrolled at birth.

Cognitive and functional outcomes at age 21 after prenatal cocaine/polydrug exposure and foster/adoptive care.

Objective: Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) has been linked to specific cognitive deficits and behavioral outcomes through early adolescence but there is little information on adult outcomes nor on the relationship of environmental interventions, such as foster/adoptive care, to outcomes.

Methods: At 21 years, data were available on 325 young adults, [163 PCE and 162 non-exposed (NCE)], primarily African-American, with low SES, who were followed from birth in a prospective longitudinal cohort study. Participants were administered the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI-II) and surveyed regarding high school completion, problematic substance use, and incarceration/probation history.

The association of prenatal cocaine exposure with expressive and receptive language skills, phonological processing and reading ability at age 17.

Objective: Prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) has been associated with small but significant effects on language development in childhood and early adolescence. This study examined whether this association persists into later adolescence and what relationship language skills may have with reading proficiency in this population.

Methods: Enrolled were 338 (167 with PCE, 171 with NCE or no cocaine exposure) 17-year-olds recruited at birth who, together with their current caregiver, were seen as part of a 17-year follow-up.

Self-reported mental health outcomes in prenatally cocaine exposed adolescents at 17 years of age.

Objective: Adverse developmental effects of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) are hypothesized to extend into late adolescence, yet few studies have investigated the association between PCE and late adolescent mental health outcomes. We examined the associations between PCE and self-reported mental health symptoms at age 17, controlling for biologic and environmental confounders. We further explored the potential moderating role of sex and the mediating role of earlier drug use by age 15 in the associations.

Personal Social Networks and Relapses in Women With Substance Dependence: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Objective: Establishing positive network resources and rebuilding drug free networks are key components of recovery process for women with substance use disorder (SUDs). Theory of planned behavior (TPB) posits that behaviors are determined by behavioral intentions, which are determined by three factors: attitude toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms. The current study applied TPB to examine whether women's personal social network characteristics (as subjective norms) were related to intentions towards, and/or a substance use relapse using prospective research design.

Substance use and individual assets in urban adolescents: Subgroups and correlates in emerging adulthood.

Introduction: To investigate patterns of divergence in adolescent adjustment, this study examined the co-occurring patterns of adolescents' individual assets (e.g., school engagement, values) and substance use, and whether the co-occurring patterns were associated with later functioning in emerging adulthood.

Preschool blood lead levels, language competency, and substance use in adolescence.

Background: Elevated lead levels in children are a persistent public health problem, particularly in urban areas in the United States, yet few prospective studies have examined the association of childhood lead levels with substance use in adolescence.

Objectives: To determine the association of early lead levels with adolescent substance use and whether childhood IQ, language skills, and externalizing (aggressive and disruptive) behavior mediate the association, controlling for confounding biological and environmental factors.

Methods: The participants (N = 265) were a subsample of a prospective birth cohort study on the developmental effects of prenatal cocaine exposure in the Midwest United States.

Fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium and substance use in adolescence.

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) continues to be a serious public health problem, yet no reliable clinical tools are available for assessing levels of drinking during pregnancy. Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), the nonoxidative metabolites of ethanol measured in meconium, are potential biomarkers to quantify the level of PAE. The association between the concentrations of FAEEs from meconium and adolescent substance use and related problems was examined in a prospective birth-cohort of adolescents exposed to alcohol and drugs in utero.

Association of fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium with behavior during childhood.

Objective: To examine associations between amounts of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium and behavior in school aged children exposed to alcohol and drugs in utero.

Methods: A secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of cocaine, polydrug exposed children, primarily African-American, low socioeconomic status, recruited at birth into a longitudinal study. FAEEs were quantified with gas chromatography via a flame ionization detector.

Profiles of individual assets and mental health symptoms in at-risk early adolescents.

Introduction: Few studies investigated the combined patterns of individual assets (e.g., social competence, positive identity) and mental health symptoms (MHS) in adolescents.

Developmental trajectories of externalizing behavior from ages 4 to 12: Prenatal cocaine exposure and adolescent correlates.

Background: Although prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) has been linked with greater externalizing behavior, no studies have investigated heterogeneity of developmental trajectories in children with PCE to date. The present study aimed to: (1) identify developmental trajectories of externalizing problems in childhood by using a person-oriented analytic approach; (2) examine whether trajectories differ by PCE and other environmental and biological correlates; and (3) investigate how trajectories were associated with adolescent substance use and sexual behavior.

Methods: Adolescents (N = 386; 197 PCE, 187 non-cocaine exposed (NCE)), primarily African-American and of low socioeconomic status, were prospectively enrolled in a longitudinal study at birth.

Factor Structure of the Urban Hassles Index.

Objective: This study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Urban Hassles Index (UHI).

Methods: Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted via Principal Axis Factoring extraction method. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the fit of the EFA-derived model using the weighted least squares estimator with mean and variance adjustments.

Prenatal and concurrent cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco effects on adolescent cognition and attention.

Background: Prenatal cocaine/polydrug exposure (PCE) may increase vulnerability to substance use disorders due to associated cognitive deficits. We examined whether neurocognitive deficits in executive functions and attention observed in PCE children persisted to adolescence when compared to non-cocaine/polydrug (NCE) children, and whether adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana) was also associated with neurocognitive deficits.

Methods: 354 (180 PCE, 174 NCE) adolescents in a longitudinal study from birth were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children - IV (WISC-IV), and the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA/CPT) at age 15.

Individual assets and problem behaviors in at-risk adolescents: A longitudinal cross-lagged analysis.

Autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation modeling was conducted to examine longitudinal relationships between individual assets (social competence, positive values and identity) and problem behaviors in 373 adolescents (174 boys, 199 girls) who participated in a prospective study on the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure from birth. More behavioral problems at age 12 were related to fewer individual assets at age 15, while greater individual assets were related to more behavioral problems, with a non-significant yet nuanced (p = .076) gender difference.