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Abstract
Youth of parents who abuse substances are at significant risk for the development of alcohol or other drugs (AOD) use problems. Despite this intergenerational risk for substance use problems (SUPs), not all youth exposed to substance use develop SUPs. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has a central bioregulatory role in regulating behaviors that reliably forecasts substance abuse. Yet, the protective effect of the ANS system on the intergenerational effect of AOD use problems is unknown. This study aimed to examine a psychophysiological pathway that underlies the intergenerational transmission of parental substance use behavior and the development of ADHD in young adult offspring using a community sample of 225 low-SES young adults (Mage = 21.56; 52.9% female) in a two-wave design (12-18 month time interval between waves). A second aim was to test the mediating role of ADHD and the moderating role of ANS functioning (i.e., tonic pre-ejection period; PEP-b) on the intergenerational transmission of SUPs. Results indicated that the direct effect of parental substance use on young adult AOD use problems was mediated by ADHD, but only among youth with blunted self-regulation (i.e., high PEP-b).