Objective: Much of what is known about parental divorce and adult alcohol outcomes comes from cross-sectional comparisons of those who did and did not experience parental divorce. In contrast, far less is known about whether and how parental divorce is associated with alcohol consumption trajectories. We used a longitudinal perspective to investigate the associations between parental divorce and men's alcohol consumption trajectories as well as a genetically informative approach to evaluate whether the pattern of genetic and environmental influences on these trajectories differed for men who did and did not experience parental divorce.
Method: The sample included 1,614 adult men from a population-based twin registry in Virginia. Measures of parental divorce (before age 16) and alcohol consumption (between ages 10 and 40) came from interviews and life history calendars. Data were analyzed with growth curve and longitudinal biometric variance component models.
Results: In total, 11% of the sample experienced parental divorce. Parental divorce was associated with higher alcohol consumption intercepts that were sustained over time but was not associated with the linear slope or quadratic curvature of men's alcohol consumption trajectories. Longitudinal biometric variance components modeling indicated that genetic influences on alcohol consumption were higher in adolescence and young adulthood among those who experienced parental divorce compared with those who did not.
Conclusions: Parental divorce is associated with the shape and relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on men's alcohol consumption trajectories from adolescence through adulthood.