Marie D. Cornelius - US grants

DESCRIPTION: (Applicant's Abstract) The long-term effects of prenatal tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol exposure on the offspring of adolescents have not previously been studied. These substances are prevalent among pregnant teenagers and their adverse effects on the offspring of adult users have been documented. Given the higher risks associated with teenage pregnancy, it is important to study the effects of these teratogens in this vulnerable population. Aim # 1) Examine the long-term effects of prenatal tobacco and marijuana exposure on the growth, morphology, cognitive and behavioral characteristics of six-year-old offspring of adolescent mothers. The analyses will consider the direct effects of prenatal tobacco and marijuana exposure and environmental factors as potential mediators and moderators of those effects. The analyses will also consider the effects of factors that are associated with adolescent parenthood which may create a sub-optimal developmental context for the offspring and describe the impact of these variables on the relationship between prenatal tobacco or marijuana exposure and outcome.* Aim # 2) Describe patterns of tobacco and marijuana use in the postpartum years among adolescents' and compare those patterns to those of the adolescents' substance use before and during pregnancy. Examine the relationship between the teenage mother's substance use, psychological status, coping skills, and socioeconomic characteristics. Aim # 3) Compare effects of prenatal tobacco and marijuana exposure on offspring of adolescent mothers with the effects on same-aged offspring from a recent sample of adult mothers who attended the same prenatal clinic. We hypothesize that there will be more negative growth, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes among offspring of adolescent mothers, as compared to adult mothers, that can be explained by the unique aspects of adolescent parenthood. Our study will utilize the subject population gathered from a study of pregnant adolescents and their offspring. This study examined patterns of substance use before and during pregnancy and the effect of prenatal substance exposure on the offspring of adolescents. A major strength of the ongoing study is that it is the only study that has systematically measured the licit and illicit drug use of teenage girls before and during pregnancy. It is also the only study that has carefully measured growth, morphology and behavior of the newborns of teenage mothers. A further strength of the study is our exceptional follow-up rate. We are currently in touch with 97.6% of the sample.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a competing renewal application to continue a well-established training program that was begun in 1982. Since that time, 24 postdoctoral fellows have completed the program; two postdoctoral fellows are current trainees. Twenty-one of the postdoctoral graduates have academic or research positions. Twenty predoctoral fellows have completed their training in the program; two are current trainees. Seventeen of the 20 completed trainees have academic or research positions. The Alcohol Research Training Program prepares trainees for careers in alcohol research. Research in alcohol requires investigators who are trained in the most current and sophisticated methods of both epidemiology and biostatistics and who understand the application of these methodologies to the specific questions raised in alcohol research. This is accomplished by having training experience which involves working on research projects with faculty mentors who are active researchers. This training experience is supported by relevant course work in epidemiology, statistics, medicine, and psychology. For the next funding period, we are requesting support of 3 postdoctoral trainees per year over a five-year period. We anticipate that approximately half of the postdoctoral fellows will be PhDs and half will be MDS.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Excessive alcohol consumption is third among the causes of preventable death in the U.S. (CDC, 2004). To reduce this heavy toll on the health of the nation, we need to develop a better understanding of the biological, psychological, and social factors that lead to alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, as well as to develop and test new techniques for prevention and intervention. Most of this work will be accomplished by our next generation of alcohol researchers. [unreadable] Alcohol research requires investigators who are trained in the most current and sophisticated methods and who understand the application of these methdologies to the questions and design issues that are specific to alcohol research. The Interdisciplinary Alcohol Research Training (IART) program is in an excellent position to train students to apply these skills to research. They have access to the combined faculties of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC), the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), the Medical School, as well as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. This unusual open access to resources, combined with the presence of outstanding researchers within each of these divisions, has resulted in a very rich training environment. The IART Program has successfully trained postdoctoral fellows since 1982. Of the 29 fellows who have completed the program, 25 (86%) are in academic or senior research positions. Training in the IART program involves active participation on research projects with faculty mentors supplemented by courses in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Medicine, Addiction Medicine, psychiatric, and behavioral research. Faculty are selected for the IART Program based on their established careers in research and must have demonstrated mentoring and teaching skills. These faculty members are diverse and multidisciplinary. The IART program is committed to training researchers who will demonstrate excellence and innovation in their research careers. This application is a competing renewal of T32 AA07453. We request support of two postdoctoral trainees per year over the next five years. This is the same number we trained per year in the current funding cycle. We have found that this number is attainable, efficient, and best complements the resources within the existing University of Pittsburgh research and training programs. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many studies have demonstrated that early age of drinking onset is one of the strongest predictors for the development of alcohol-related problems. However, the mechanisms underlying the development of early use remain unclear. Early onset of alcohol use and problem use are associated with other risky behaviors including other drug use, driving while under the influence, sexual risk taking, and co-occurring difficultie, such as school failure, aggression, and problems with the law. Most previous research has focused on more proximal influences of adolescent drinking. This ignores two significant time periods, gestation and early childhood, when the earliest predictors of alcohol use can be identified. We have a unique opportunity to use data from two longitudinal cohorts (combined n = 1176) that have followed children from gestation through adolescence to explore factors during gestation and early childhood that predict early use and problem use of alcohol. Data points include gestation and five additional time points: birth, childhood, and late childhood, early adolescence and later adolescent years in both cohorts. Measures from these cohorts will be used to define early adversity. We will explore aspects of early adversity and the consequences of early adversity on alcohol use and abuse among adolescence. Measures of early adversity will include exposure to prenatal alcohol and other substances, maternal psychological status during pregnancy, offspring exposure to child maltreatment, and sociodemographic factors including maternal age. In early childhood, measures of the environment, maternal psychological status, substance use, and environmental measures will be evaluated. We will define the associations between early adversity and early alcohol use, patterns of alcohol use, and problem drinking among adolescents. We will also model the associations between these early risk factors, the consequences of early exposures, and the effects on drinking during adolescence. Data from adolescence will allow us to explore the interactions of early and more proximal factors, and the pathways from early characteristics to alcohol use and abuse. The findings from the proposed analyses will contribute to the development of targeted prevention strategies that can be focused in early life to reduce adolescent drinking and drinking problems.