Predictors of aggression across three generations among sons of alcoholics: relationships involving grandparental and parental alcoholism, child aggression, marital aggression and parenting practices.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study uses a three-generation database involving measures of grandparental and parental alcohol use disorder (AUD), marital aggression and aggression to offspring to predict early and later childhood aggression of third generation offspring. Given the importance of aggressive, undercontrolled behavior in the etiology of alcoholism, the purpose of this study was to construct a statistical model of intergenerational aggression and alcoholism among family members.

METHOD: Participants were a population-based sample of 186 young sons of alcoholics and both biological parents and 120 nonsubstance abusing families and their age-matched sons drawn from the same neighborhoods. Extensive family data were collected at baseline and at 6 years postbaseline. Structural equation modeling evaluated retrospective and prospective relationships between grandparental and parental predictors of the sons' childhood aggression when they were 3-5 and 9-11 years of age.

RESULTS: The final model showed that grandparental marital aggression predicted development of parental antisocial behavior, which predicted parental alcoholism and marital aggression and partially mediated level of child aggression among their sons as preschoolers. Significant autostabilities in level of child aggression, parental AUD and marital aggression were present in families over the 6-year interval. Marital aggression was a more important predictor of son's preschool aggression; direct parental aggression to the child was more important at 9-11. Child aggression at 3-5 also was a partial mediator of level of parent-to-child aggression at 9-11.

CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate continuity of aggression across three generations and also indicate that the child's pathway into risk for later AUD is not simply mediated by parental alcoholism, but is carried by other comorbid aspects of family functioning, in particular aggression.