The pooled data set also permitted us to look at the impact of a low base-rate behavior, occurrence of parents’ alcohol-related symptoms within any given year of the child's life from ages 2-18, on children's functioning (Hussong, Cai et al., 2008; Hussong, Huang, et al., 2010; Hussong, Huang et al., 2012). This approach led to an important theoretical distinction between between-person and within-person effects of parents’ alcohol-related symptoms on children's functioning (e.g., Curran & Bauer, 2011), differentiating the role of parents’ symptoms on identifying which children are at risk for poor functioning (between-person effects) versus identifying the timing of a given child's functional impairment (within-person effects). In this series of studies, we were able to examine these between-person and within-person effects of parents’ alcohol-related symptoms on more common indicators of children's functional impairment, such as internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and alcohol use, as well as on such low base rate indicators as children's functional impairment as marijuana use and other illicit drug use.
