Search Results

Methods. We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a representative longitudinal data set. Our main outcome was the hyperactivity subscale of the Behavioral Problems Index determined on all participants at age 7. Children who were 1.2 standard deviations above the mean were classified as having attentional problems. Our main predictor was hours of television watched daily at ages 1 and 3 years.

Results. Data were available for 1278 children at age 1 and 1345 children at age 3. Ten percent of children had attentional problems at age 7. In a logistic regression model, hours of television viewed per day at both ages 1 and 3 was associated with attentional problems at age 7 (1.09 [1.03-1.15] and 1.09 [1.02-1.16]), respectively.

Conclusions. Early television exposure is associated with attentional problems at age 7. Efforts to limit television viewing in early childhood may be warranted, and additional research is needed.

Methods. We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), a nationally representative longitudinal data set. We used harmful and binge drinking at ages 17 to 20 to predict harmful and binge drinking at ages 30 to 31, stratifying for gender and controlling for confounders.

Results. Data were available on harmful drinking at both the adolescent and the early adult age period for 3790 individuals and on binge drinking for 2387 individuals. Harmful drinking during adolescence was significantly associated with harmful drinking at ages 30 to 31 for men only. Among male adolescents, 14% of harmful drinkers continued harmful drinking at ages 30 to 31, compared with 4% of nonharmful drinkers who became harmful drinkers. In Poisson regression models, binge drinking during adolescence was associated with binge drinking at ages 30 to 31 for both men and women, generating relative risks of 2.3 (95% confidence interval: 1.8--3.0) and 3.0 (95% confidence interval: 2.4--4.8), respectively. Half of binge-drinking male adolescents and one third of binge-drinking female adolescents engaged in binge drinking into early adulthood, compared with 19% for non--binge-drinking male adolescents and 8% of non--binge-drinking female adolescents.

Conclusions. Problem drinking during adolescence is associated with problem drinking in early adulthood. Efforts to prevent and treat adolescent problem drinking could have an impact on the progression of alcohol-related disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]