we found proximal effects indicating an additional risk for externalizing symptoms (above and beyond that attributed to distal effects) for children whose parents had greater alcohol-related symptoms during the study period when externalizing symptoms were assessed. Notably, we also found time-varying effects of parents’ alcohol-related symptoms, showing that in some cases children increase their externalizing symptoms during those years when their parents report more alcohol-related symptoms. Importantly, these findings did not differ across gender; rather, these effects of parent alcoholism were equally relevant for boys and girls in predicting externalizing symptoms. These findings differ somewhat from our previous analyses that tested whether these three types of effects of parent alcoholism predicted children’s internalizing symptoms. We discuss implications of the current findings in light of our previous analyses as well as effects of reporter and developmental timing on our conclusions.
