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Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2004 Apr;28(4):578-87.
Sleep problems in early childhood and early onset of alcohol and other
drug use in adolescence.
Wong MM, Brower KJ, Fitzgerald HE, Zucker RA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
USA.
BACKGROUND: No prospective studies exist on the
relationship between sleep problems early in life and subsequent alcohol
use. Stimulated by the adult literature linking sleep problems to
the subsequent onset of alcohol use disorders in some adults, we examined
whether sleep problems in early childhood predicted the onset of alcohol
and other drug use in adolescence and whether such a relationship
was mediated by other known predictors of this relationship, namely,
attention problems, anxiety/depression, and aggression in late childhood.
METHODS: This study is part of an ongoing longitudinal
study of the development of risk for alcohol and other substance use
disorders. Study participants were 257 boys from a community-recruited
sample of high-risk families.
RESULTS: Mothers' ratings of their children's sleep
problems at ages 3 to 5 years significantly predicted an early onset
of any use of alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drugs, as well as an
early onset of occasional or regular use of cigarettes by age 12 to
14. Additionally, although sleep problems in early childhood also
predicted attention problems and anxiety/depression in later childhood,
these problems did not mediate the relationship between sleep problems
and onset of alcohol and other drug use.
CONCLUSIONS: This is, to our knowledge, the first
study that prospectively examines the relationship between sleep problems
and early onset of alcohol use, a marker of increased risk for later
alcohol problems and alcohol use disorders. Moreover, early childhood
sleep problems seem to be a robust marker for use of drugs other than
alcohol. Implications for the prevention of early alcohol and other
drug use are discussed.
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