Timing of Family Adversity During Adolescence and its Impact on Alcohol and Tobacco Initiation: A Longitudinal Study Among Taiwanese Adolescents

We examined the impact of time-varying exposure to family adversity, including parental conflict, parental absence from home, divorce, and parental death, on the timing of drinking and smoking initiation among Taiwanese youth between ages 14 and 22 years. We used six waves of data from a longitudinal panel study conducted in northern Taiwan between 2001 and 2009, and included 5446 students. The analysis demonstrated that exposure to parental conflict, divorce, and parental death increased the risk of drinking and smoking initiation. The odds ratios (OR) for smoking and drinking initiation among youth experiencing conflict between parents were 1.33 (95% CI 1.10–1.73) for smoking and 2.00 (1.26–3.20) for drinking. The OR for parental death were 2.96 (1.69–5.18) for smoking and 8.07 (1.79–36.49) for drinking. The association becomes more pronounced at age 18 (i.e., the legal age for drinking and smoking in Taiwan), and lasts until early adulthood.