Chunk #8 — The role of romantic relationship status in pathways of risk for emerging adult alcohol use — Parental Alcohol Problems, Romantic Relationship Status, and Alcohol Use — Deviance Proneness Pathway from Parental Alcohol Problems to Romantic Relationship Status and Alcohol Use
The deviance proneness pathway refers to one's predisposition toward impulse control problems and disinhibited behavior, including antisocial behavior and substance use/misuse (Kendler, Prescott, Myers, & Neale, 2003; Krueger et al., 2002), and is historically one of the most well-studied and robust etiological pathways for alcohol misuse (Sher et al., 2005). The central premise is that alcohol misuse reflects a long-standing susceptibility to disinhibited behavior that begins to manifest as deviant behavior in childhood and adolescence (Zucker & Lisansky Gomberg, 1986). This broadband predisposition appears to largely reflect familial risk (Hicks, Krueger, Iacono, McGue, & Patrick, 2004); for example, parental alcohol use disorder has a well-replicated association with deviant behavior in offspring (Haber et al., 2010; Sher, Walitzer, Wood, & Brent, 1991). Deviant behavior and conduct problems in adolescence are, in turn, a well-known risk factor for risky alcohol use outcomes later on, including higher alcohol use (Lynskey & Fergusson, 1995) and the probability of developing an alcohol use disorder (Slutske et al., 1998).
