Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Construction of Vapor Chambers Used to Expose Mice to Alcohol During the Equivalent of all Three Trimesters of Human Development
Published on: July 13, 2014
Alcohol and STI risk: evidence from a New Zealand longitudinal birth cohort
Joseph M Boden1, David M Fergusson, L John Horwood
1University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Background:
The present study examined the associations between involvement with alcohol and risks of sexually transmitted infection (STI) during adolescence and early adulthood.
Methods:
A 30-year prospective longitudinal study of the health, development, and adjustment of a birth cohort of 1265 New Zealand-born individuals. Measures included repeated assessments of frequency of alcohol use and number of symptoms of alcohol disorder from ages 15 to 30 and rates of STI from ages 14 to 30. Conditional fixed effects regression models augmented by observed time-dynamic covariate factors were used to control for non-observed confounding in the associations between alcohol and STI risk.
Results:
There were clear and consistent trends for increasing involvement with alcohol to be linked with increased risk of STI diagnoses. Adjustment of the associations for sources of non-observed confounding and time-dynamic covariate factors reduced the magnitude of these associations, but they remained statistically significant (p < .05).
Conclusions:
The results of the current study support the notion of the existence of a causal pathway in which increasing levels of alcohol use and symptoms of alcohol abuse/dependence led to increased risks of STI exposure. There was little evidence to suggest that the links between alcohol involvement and STI risk could be fully explained by an underlying predisposing factor that increased the risks of both alcohol involvement and STI.
Related Concept Videos
Hypothesis Test for Test of Independence
H0: The two variables (factors)...
Amebiasis
Longitudinal Research
Factors Affecting the Risk of Infection
The integrity and count of the white blood cells help the body resist pathogens and fight infection. When impaired, it reduces the body's resistance to pathogens. The acidic pH levels of the gastrointestinal, genitourinary tracts, and skin create...
Longitudinal Studies
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques IV

