Chronic childhood adversity and speed of transition through stages of alcohol involvement

While research suggests that chronic childhood adversities may be predictors of alcohol use disorders, little is known of their influence on accelerated transitions through stages of alcohol involvement. We estimated the speed of transition from first opportunity (to first drink, regular drinking) to alcohol use disorder, by type and number of childhood adversities experienced.

Nine-hundred-and-fifteen individuals participated in the Mexican Adolescent Mental Health Survey (a stratified multistage probabilistic sample), first as adolescents (12-17 years of age) and again eight years later as young adults (19-26 years of age). The WHO World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) assessed DSM-IV alcohol use disorders and twelve chronic childhood adversities. We calculated random coefficient models to estimate the association of childhood adversities with speed through stages of alcohol use involvement.

Mean time from opportunity to disorder was 4.08 years and the average growth rate was 1.36 years between each stage of involvement. Some, but not all, childhood adversities accelerated the growth rate, decreasing latency between each stage of alcohol use involvement from 1.36 to 0.93 years for witnessing family violence, 0.87 years for having a life-threatening illness, 0.79 years for sexual abuse to 0.77 years for physical abuse (p < 0.01).

There is a narrower window of opportunity to prevent progression through stages of alcohol involvement in youth who have experienced certain childhood adversities. Our findings are consistent with the dimensional approach of childhood adversity that distinguishes between experiences of threat and deprivation that might differentially influence neurological development.