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Author: Witbrodt, Jane
Resulting in 4 citations.
1. Karriker-Jaffe, Katherine J.
Witbrodt, Jane
Mulia, Nina
Differential Consequences: Racial/Ethnic and Gender Differences in the Enduring Impact of Early Disadvantage on Heavy Drinking in Midlife
Prevention Science 20,7 (October 2019): 1009-1020.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-019-01033-1
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Childhood Adversity/Trauma; Ethnic Differences; Gender Differences; Poverty; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We use a "chain of risks" model to identify risk factors for prolonged heavy drinking in a nationally representative US sample followed from adolescence to middle age, focusing on educational mediators and differential consequences of early exposure to family poverty and area-level disadvantage. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (civilian respondents ages 14-19 at baseline, N = 5781), longitudinal path models assessed racial/ethnic and gender differences in indirect effects of early disadvantage (duration of exposure to family poverty and area-level disadvantage during adolescence) on midlife heavy drinking. Educational mediators were high school academic performance (taking remedial coursework), high school completion, and attaining a college education. Subgroups were based on race/ethnicity (50.7% White, 30.5% Black, 18.8% Hispanic respondents) and gender (49.6% males). There was a significant indirect path from family poverty during adolescence to poor high school academic performance, lower educational attainment, and more heavy drinking in midlife. For Black respondents, there was an additional direct effect of early area-level disadvantage on greater midlife heavy drinking that was not seen for other groups. The effect of family poverty on reduced high school graduation was stronger for males than females. Enduring impacts of family poverty duration during adolescence on educational attainment have consequences for health risk behaviors in midlife. Due to differential exposure to early adversity, intersectoral interventions are needed to reduce disparities in alcohol outcomes and to promote health equity among high-risk populations.
Bibliography Citation
Karriker-Jaffe, Katherine J., Jane Witbrodt and Nina Mulia. "Differential Consequences: Racial/Ethnic and Gender Differences in the Enduring Impact of Early Disadvantage on Heavy Drinking in Midlife." Prevention Science 20,7 (October 2019): 1009-1020.
2. Lui, Camillia K.
Witbrodt, Jane
Li, Libo
Tam, Christina
Williams, Edwina
Guo, Zihe
Mulia, Nina
Associations between Early Childhood Adversity and Behavioral, Substance Use, and Academic Outcomes in Childhood through Adolescence in a U.S. Longitudinal Cohort
Drug and Alcohol Dependence published online (3 February 2023): 109795.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871623000339
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Academic Development; Alcohol Use; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Childhood Adversity/Trauma; Drug Use; High School Completion/Graduates; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading)

Background: Childhood adversity is strongly associated with adolescent substance use, but few epidemiologic studies have investigated early childhood adversity (ECA) before age 5. This study investigated pathways by which ECA is associated with adolescent alcohol and cannabis use and high school completion through childhood behavioral and academic mediators and their reciprocal effects.

Methods: Data were from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979-Child/Young Adult Cohort which surveyed children born 1984-1999 and followed through 2016 (n=5,521). Outcomes included alcohol and cannabis use frequency at ages 15-18, and high school completion by age 19. ECA at ages 0-4 was a cumulative score of maternal heavy drinking/drug use, low emotional support, low cognitive stimulation, and household poverty. Multilevel path models were conducted with ECA, childhood mediators (behavioral ( externalizing and internalizing problems) and academics (reading and math scores), accounting for demographics and confounders.

Results: ECA was indirectly associated with adolescent cannabis frequency through mediators of externalizing/internalizing problems, low academics, and early cannabis onset before age 14. ECA was also indirectly associated with alcohol frequency via the same mediators, but not early alcohol onset. Greater behavioral problems elevated substance use risk; whereas, low academics reduced risk. Reciprocal effects were evident between childhood behavioral problems and cannabis frequency to high school completion.

Bibliography Citation
Lui, Camillia K., Jane Witbrodt, Libo Li, Christina Tam, Edwina Williams, Zihe Guo and Nina Mulia. "Associations between Early Childhood Adversity and Behavioral, Substance Use, and Academic Outcomes in Childhood through Adolescence in a U.S. Longitudinal Cohort." Drug and Alcohol Dependence published online (3 February 2023): 109795.
3. Mulia, Nina
Karriker-Jaffe, Katherine J.
Witbrodt, Jane
Bond, Jason
Williams, Edwina
Zemore, Sarah E.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in 30-year Trajectories of Heavy Drinking in a Nationally Representative U.S. Sample
Drug and Alcohol Dependence 170 (1 January 2017): 133-141.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871616309826
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Ethnic Differences; Life Course; Racial Differences

Background: Racial/ethnic minorities bear a disproportionate burden of alcohol-related problems in the U.S. It is unknown whether this reflects harmful patterns of lifecourse heavy drinking. Prior research shows little support for the latter but has been limited to young samples. We examine racial/ethnic differences in heavy drinking trajectories from ages 21 to 51.

Methods: Data on heavy drinking (6+ drinks/occasion) are from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 9,468), collected between 1982 and 2012. Sex-stratified, generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to model heavy drinking frequency trajectories as a function of age with a cubic curve, and interactions of race with age terms were tested to assess racial/ethnic differences. Models adjusted for time-varying socioeconomic status and marital and parenting status; predictors of trajectories were examined in race- and sex-specific models.

Results: White men and women had similarly steep declines in heavy drinking frequency throughout the 20s, contrasting with slower declines (and lower peaks) in Black and Hispanic men and women. During the 30s there was a Hispanic-White crossover in men's heavy drinking curves, and a Black-White female crossover among lifetime heavy drinkers; by age 51, racial/ethnic group trajectories converged in both sexes. Greater education was protective for all groups.

Bibliography Citation
Mulia, Nina, Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe, Jane Witbrodt, Jason Bond, Edwina Williams and Sarah E. Zemore. "Racial/Ethnic Differences in 30-year Trajectories of Heavy Drinking in a Nationally Representative U.S. Sample." Drug and Alcohol Dependence 170 (1 January 2017): 133-141.
4. Mulia, Nina
Witbrodt, Jane
Karriker-Jaffe, Katherine J.
Li, Libo
Lui, Camillia K.
Zapolski, Tamika
Education Matters: Longitudinal Pathways to Midlife Heavy Drinking in a National Cohort of Black Americans
Addiction 117,8 (August 2022): 2225-2234.
Also: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.15882
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Black Studies; Educational Attainment; Life Course; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Aims: To estimate longitudinal pathways from childhood socioeconomic position (SEP) to educational attainment and midlife heavy drinking in Black Americans in order to identify potential points of early intervention to reduce risk for alcohol-related problems in adulthood.

Design, Setting, Participants: Data are from 1,299 Black Americans in the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, followed from 1979 (ages 15-19) through 2012. Given gender differences in factors related to education and alcohol outcomes, gender-stratified path models were analyzed.

Measurements: Youth socioeconomic indicators included parental education (approximating childhood SEP) and adolescent poverty duration. Education-related measures included high-poverty school, perceived school safety, academic problems, suspension from school, educational expectations, and educational attainment. Adulthood measures included repeated unemployment, poverty duration, and mean frequency of heavy drinking (6+ drinks/day) in young adulthood and midlife. Covariates included age, dual-parent household, marital status, early drinking onset, and family history of alcohol problems.

Findings: For both genders, two main pathways originating from low childhood SEP flowed to educational attainment through (1) educational expectations and (2) suspension, and from educational attainment to midlife heavy drinking (total indirect effect = 0.131 (95% confidence interval [CI]: .072-.197) for women, and 0.080 (.035-.139) for men). For both genders, adolescent poverty (standardized βs >.135), academic problems (βs >.220), and school suspension (βs >.165) were significantly (ps <.05) related to lower educational expectations. In adulthood, educational attainment was indirectly protective against midlife heavy drinking through its significant effects (ps <.05) on young adult heavy drinking for both genders (βs < -.200) and economic hardships for women (βs < -.290).

Conclusions: Low childhood socio-economic position among black Americans appears to be associated with subsequent, adverse socio-economic and school experiences that lead to lower educational attainment and, ultimately, greater heavy drinking at mid-life. Interventions that mitigate these earlier, adverse experiences might have indirect effects on mid-life heavy drinking.

Bibliography Citation
Mulia, Nina, Jane Witbrodt, Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe, Libo Li, Camillia K. Lui and Tamika Zapolski. "Education Matters: Longitudinal Pathways to Midlife Heavy Drinking in a National Cohort of Black Americans." Addiction 117,8 (August 2022): 2225-2234.