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The impact of parenthood on risk of registration for alcohol use disorder in married individuals: a Swedish population-based analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2018

Kenneth S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA, USA Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Sara Larsson Lönn
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
Jessica E. Salvatore
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA, USA
Jan Sundquist
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA Department of Functional Pathology, Center for Community-based Healthcare Research and Education (CoHRE), School of Medicine, Shimane University, Shimane, Japan
Kristina Sundquist
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA Department of Functional Pathology, Center for Community-based Healthcare Research and Education (CoHRE), School of Medicine, Shimane University, Shimane, Japan
*
Author for correspondence: Kenneth S. Kendler, E-mail: Kenneth.Kendler@vcuhealth.org
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Abstract

Background

Although being married with children is associated with a reduced rate of alcohol use disorder (AUD), is this finding independent of a marital effect, different in mothers and fathers and potentially causal in effect.

Methods

Using Cox proportional hazards, we examined, in 1 252 237 married individuals, the association between a resident younger and older child and risk for AUD registration in national medical, criminal, and pharmacy registers. Using logistic regression, we analyzed, in 600 219 parents, within-person models comparing risk for AUD prior to first pregnancy v. with young children. We examined whether risk for AUD in 1302 parents after a first spousal AUD registration was reduced by having a young resident child.

Results

Compared with childless married individuals, resident younger children were associated with a reduced risk for AUD in mothers [hazard ratio (HR) 0.36, 95% confidence interval 0.31–0.41] and fathers (HR 0.66, 0.60–0.73). The reduced risk was attenuated but still significant for older children. Within-person models confirmed the protective effect of young children in mothers [odds ratio (OR) 0.49, 0.30–0.80] but yielded inconclusive results in fathers (OR 0.85, 0.58–1.25). After a first spousal registration for AUD, a resident young child was associated with a substantial reduction in risk for mothers and a weaker marginal effect in fathers.

Conclusion

In married individuals, resident children are associated with a reduction in basal risk for AUD which is stronger in mothers than fathers and with younger v. older children. This effect is also evident during high-risk periods. In mothers, our results are consistent with a largely causal effect.

Information

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 
Figure 0

Table 1. Descriptive statistics – children during marriagea

Figure 1

Table 2. Frailty model analyses of the impact of lived-with children in married individuals on the risk for alcohol use disorder registration

Figure 2

Table 3. Within-person logistic regression analyses of the impact of lived-with younger children in married individuals on the risk for alcohol use disorder registrationa

Figure 3

Fig. 1. (a) First registration for AUD in husbands when the wives had a first AUD registration – a non-parametric estimate of the hazard function (and 95% CIs) of first AUD registration in husbands as a function of whether there was a resident child in the home (in dotted line) or there were no children (solid line). Estimates are presented in solid lines and 95% CIs in dotted lines. The x-axis is time from registration in the wife in years. The y-axis is rate of AUD registration. (b) First registration for AUD in wives when the husband had a first AUD registration – a non-parametric estimate of the hazard function (and 95% CIs) of first AUD registration in wives as a function of whether there was a resident child in the home (dotted line) or there were no children (solid line). Estimates are presented in solid lines and 95% CIs in dotted lines. The x-axis is time from first registration in the husband in years. The y-axis is rate of AUD registration.

Figure 4

Fig. 2. Risk ratio for first registration for AUD in men (solid line) and women (dotted line) who had been exposed to a first onset of AUD in their spouse when there was v. was not a resident child in the home. The two curves represent the ratio between the curves seen, respectively, in Figs 1a and b.

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