Thus, the relationship between an earlier AFD and future alcohol related problems is complex, and is best understood through prospective studies that consider multiple predictors of the onset of drinking (Kuperman et al., 2005; Sartor et al., 2006; Warner et al., 2007). The current analyses evaluate the relations between AFD and several additional characteristics that by themselves are likely to be associated with future heavy drinking and alcohol problems, using offspring from the San Diego Prospective Study (SDPS). The central hypothesis is that the relationship to AFD for factors that also enhance the risk for later alcohol problems (gender, FH of AUDs, conduct problems, prior substance use and depression symptoms) is robust enough that all these characteristics must be considered along with AFD in predicting alcohol outcomes. In addition, we are also interested in determining whether interaction effects exist among the set of predictors of AFD.
