Arizona State University

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Arizona State University

• Negative life events and drinking stable and
  time varying relationsKevin M. King, M.A.

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• Background
• Negative life events are theorized to be a risk
  factor for substance use in adolescence
• Negative life events predict drinking and drug
  use across adolescence
• No research has considered how the occurrence of
  negative life events over time may impact on
  trajectories of substance use

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• Modeling life events over time
• The number of negative events experienced by an
  individual are thought of as independent and
  randomly varying
• Psychopathology research shows that
• Negative events exhibit autoregression over time
• The number of life events experienced by an
  individual is stable over time (Kim et al.,
  2003)
• This implies a higher order structure, in that
  the number of life events experienced by a person
  may be both
• trait like (stable)
• state like (time-varying).

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• Advances of current research
• Allows comparisons between two competing
  hypotheses
• Global relations
• average levels of life events correlate with
  growth or mean levels of substance use
• Time-specific relations
• Short term increases in life events produce short
  term increases in substance use

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• Goals
• Compare fit of autoregressive vs. state-trait
  models of stressful life events
• Does variation in the stable level of negative
  life events predict variation in mean levels or
  growth in alcohol use?
• Does time-specific variation in life events
  predict time specific variation in alcohol use?

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• Design
• Community sample of children of alcoholics (206)
  and matched controls (200) at three adolescent
  assessments (Mdnage13-15) (see Chassin et al.,
  1992

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• Measures
• 3 time points, each with direct interview
  assessment of
• 18 negative life events (GLSEC, Sandler, Ramirez
  Reynolds, 1986 (child self report)
• Consumption (quantityfrequency) of alcohol
  (child self report)

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Figure 1. Life events and growth in drinking
across three years in adolescence an
autoregressive model
Mage13
Mage14
Mage15
.48
.48
T1 Negative Events
T2 Negative Events
T3 Negative Events
.31
.36
.49
.49
T3 alcohol use
T2 alcohol use
T1 alcohol use
1.0
1.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
.21
Alcohol use intercept
Alcohol use slope
-.14
Model fit c2 (8, n 406) 32.55, p lt .001,
RMSEA 0.06, SRMR 0.04
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• Autoregressive Model Results
• Mean levels and growth in drinking were
  correlated with negative life events at Time 1
  and 3Higher life events at Time 2 predicted
  increases in an individuals drinking over and
  above their average trajectory of drinking across
  adolescence
• Life events and drinking were highly correlated
  at Times 2 and 3
• Correlating T1 and T3 events produced a
  significant increase in model fit, Dc2(1)26.45,
  plt.001.
• Thus life events do not have a simple
  autoregressive structure

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Figure 2. Life events and growth in drinking
across three years in adolescence a state-trait
parallel process model
Mage13
Mage14
Mage15
Negative Life Events
1.00
.68
.68
T1 Negative Events
T2 Negative Events
T3 Negative Events
.31
.31
.34
T3 alcohol use
T2 alcohol use
T1 alcohol use
1.0
1.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
.30
Alcohol use intercept
Alcohol use slope
-.17
Model fit c2 (10, n 406) 10.11, p 0.43,
RMSEA 0.01, SRMR 0.02
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• State-Trait Model Results
• State-trait model fit data much more closely than
  autoregressive model
• The number of life events reported by
  participants at each time point had both a stable
  level (the latent factor) and varied at each time
  point
• The stable (or average) level of negative life
  events over time was correlated with growth in
  alcohol use, but time-specific variation was
  unrelated to variation in drinking

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• Discussion
• Negative life events, even as assessed by
  checklists of external, uncontrollable events,
  are not randomly or independently occurring
  events.
• The number of life events experienced by
  individuals in a given time period seems to have
  both stable and time-varying components
• If researchers ignore the stable component of the
  occurrence of negative life events, spurious
  relations may be observed
• The relation between stressful life events and
  alcohol use during adolescence appears to be a
  global rather than a time specific relation
• This relation may best be explained by shared
  risk factors
• Alternately, the time-specific correlations may
  suggest an interrelation at the micro level, in
  that life events affect drinking over a short
  period of time (i.e. daily/weekly rather than
  yearly)

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• Conclusions
• The number of life events that individuals
  experience has both stable and time varying
  components
• How negative life events are modeled over time
  can change the way that they relate to substance
  use
• The relation between negative life events and
  drinking is global and stable rather than time
  specific

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• References
• Chassin, L., Barrera, M., Bech, K.,
  Kossak-Fuller, J. Recruiting a community sample
  of adolescent children of alcoholics A
  comparison of three subject sources. Journal of
  Studies on Alcohol 1992 53 316-319.
• Kim, K.J., Conger, R.D., Elder, G.H., Lorenz,
  F.O. (2003). Reciprocal influences between
  stressful life events and adolescent
  internalizing and externalizing problems. Child
  Development, 74, 127-143.
• Sandler, I. N., Ramirez, R., Reynolds, K. D.
  (1986, August). Life stress for children of
  divorce, bereaved and asthmatic children. Paper
  presented at the American Psychological
  Association Convention, Washington, DC.
• Acknowledgements
• National Research Service Award from the National
  Institute on Drug Abuse to Kevin M. King, Grant 1
  F31 DA019753-01.
• Data collection was supported by Grant DA05227
  from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and
  Grant AA16213 from the National Institute on
  Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
• Contact
• kevin_king_at_asu.edu
• This presentation is downloadable at
• http//www.public.asu.edu/kking1