Chapter 11 PATHWAYS OF RISK AGGREGATION FOR ALCOHOL USE DISORDERS Hiram E. Fitzgerald and Robert A. Zucker Work reported in this article was supported by NIAAA Grant R37 AA07065. This chapter is an expanded version of the authors’ article “Effets à court et á long terme de l’alcoolism parental sur les enfants” (Short- and long-term effects of parental alcohol use on children) PRISME, 33, 28–42. Early human development is characterized by a sequence of dynamic and systemic reorganizations beginning at conception and continuing through- out postnatal development. These reorganizations occur at fairly well cir- cumscribed intervals: 1–3 postnatal months (shift from external regulation to internal regulation); 7–9 months (emotional and cognitive reorganiza- tions based on significant changes in memory processes); 12–14 months (transition to upright locomotion); 18–24 months (transition to language as the major form of communication); 5–7 years (transition from preschool to formal schooling); 9–14 years (changes associated with puberty, influence of peers, and the shift to “if-then” thinking), and 18–25 years (identity, independence, and the transition to adulthood). Each of these transitions involves biopsychosocial change processes and each is embedded within the context of the individual’s experiential world. The experiential embed- dedness of human development provides nearly unlimited contexts that can facilitate or interfere with progress toward healthy development. Perhaps the most significant context during the first 18 years of life is the family, and it is within the dynamics of family life that we have been studying etio- logic factors that shape risk for alcohol use disorders (AUD), use of other drugs, and/or co-related developmental psychopathologies. 611-083-cmp-003x012-r01.indd 249 611-083-cmp-003x012-r01.indd 249 10/9/2005 4:34:45 PM 10/9/2005 4:34:45 PM