Further, reports of parental history of substance use and psychiatric problems are in line with larger epidemiological samples (e.g., NESARC, NCS). For example, 26% of VCU students reported that their mother or father ever had a drinking problem, comparable to the 34% of the NESARC participants and 31% of the NCS participants who reported a parental history of alcohol problems (Cuijpers and Smit, 2001; Thompson et al., 2008). Similarly, 17% of our students reported a parental drug history compared to 16% of NESARC participants who reported a parental history of problems with drugs (Elbogen and Johnson, 2009). While 46% of VCU students reported a parental history of anxiety/depression (categories were combined in our study), 32% of NESARC participants reported a parental history of problems with depression (Lizardi et al., 2009), and 14.8% of NCS participants reported a family history of problems with anxiety (Kendler et al., 1997a).
