Alcohol

Volume 65
Number 3
May 2004

Issues Available Online

WINDLE, M., MUN, E.Y. AND WINDLE, R.C. Adolescent-to-Young Adulthood Heavy Drinking Trajectories and Their Prospective Predictors

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate longitudinal trajectories of heavy drinking for males and females from adolescence to young adulthood, across the age span of 16-25 years, and to identify prospective predictors of the trajectory groups identified. Method: This study used semiparametric group-based mixture modeling to derive adolescent to young adult longitudinal trajectories of heavy drinking separately for 760 participants (430 females and 330 males) who have been participating in a long-term prospective study of risk factors for the development of heavy drinking and alcohol disorders. Results: Four trajectory groups were identified for males and five for females; the trajectories indicated both continuity and change in heavy drinking across time for the trajectory groups identified. Major common prospective predictors for the high and very high heavy drinking trajectory groups supported the influences of values and beliefs (e.g., religious commitment), stressful life events and substance use. Additional predictors for males included lower academic functioning and task orientation, and for females, more frequent sexual behavior and general deviance. Conclusions: In this predominantly white, middle-class sample, we identified groups of frequent, heavy drinking teens during the middle-adolescent years. Our findings suggest that the frequency of heavy drinking behavior will further increase for some teens into their young adult years. The potential adverse consequences of heavy drinking among adolescents and young adults suggests that multitargeted, gender-specific, early interventions with these high-risk teens is important. (J. Stud. Alcohol 66: 313-322)

ANDERSON, K.G., SCHWEINSBURG, A., PAULUS, M.P. BROWN, S.A. AND TAPERT, S. Examining Personality and Alcohol Expectancies Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) with Adolescents

Objective: Personality and alcohol expectancies have been examined as risk factors for the initiation and maintenance of alcohol use in adolescents and young adults. Differences in processing appetitive stimuli are seen as a mechanism for personality’s influence on behavior, and that mechanism predisposes individuals to form more positive expectancies for alcohol. The go/no-go task has been used to show how personality differences influence responding to appetitive stimuli in adolescents and adults, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to examine the relation of go/no-go responding to personality in adult males. However, no study to date has examined the relation between fMRI responding, personality and alcohol expectancies in adolescents. Method: Forty-six adolescents (ages 12-14 years; 61% male) with minimal substance use histories completed measures of neuroticism, extraversion, and alcohol expectancies, and performed a go/no-go task during fMRI acquisition. Results: Greater blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response to inhibition predicted fewer expectancies of cognitive and motor improvements but more expectancies of cognitive and motor impairment from alcohol. In addition, extraverted youths reported more positive alcohol expectancies. However, BOLD response did not predict neuroticism or extraversion. Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that decreased inhibitory neural processing may contribute to more positive and less negative expectancies, which can eventually lead to problem drinking. Further, extraversion may also yield more positive expectancies and could underlie a vulnerability to disordered alcohol use. (J. Stud. Alcohol 66: 323-331, 2005)

CURTIN, J.J., BARNETT, N.P., COLBY, S.M., ROHSENOW, D.J. AND MONTI, P.M. Cue Reactivity in Adolescents: Measurement of Separate Approach and Avoidance Reactions

Objective: There were two specific goals for the current study: (1) to demonstrate that adolescents display drug-specific cue reactivity to alcohol and cigarette visual cues that varies based on drug-use history and (2) to test the unique contribution of adolescents’ avoidance reactions to alcohol and cigarette cues, independent of approach/craving reaction. Method: Adolescents (N = 143; age 13-20 years; 58 males) with varied substance-use histories were recruited from school and community sites. Adolescents were presented with a series of alcohol, cigarette, and nondrug comparison visual cues and reported their approach/craving and avoidance reactions. They also completed individual difference measures related to their alcohol and cigarette use and experiences. Results: When adolescents were grouped according to their current alcohol or cigarette use (no use, low use, high use), increased use of alcohol or cigarettes was associated with stronger reactions (increased approach, decreased avoidance) to cues for that substance but not to nondrug control cues. Simultaneous regression analyses demonstrated that after controlling for approach/craving reactions, avoidance cue reactions predicted unique and/or incremental variance in measures of alcohol and cigarette usage, recent change in patterns of use, alcohol expectancies, alcohol restraint and parental alcohol problems. Conclusions: Adolescents displayed robust alcohol and cigarette cue-specific reactions that varied systematically with their current use of these drugs. Across numerous clinically relevant individual difference variables, predictive power was greatly enhanced through the inclusion of both avoidance and approach reactions. (J. Stud. Alcohol 66: 332-343, 2005)

HUSSONG, A.M., GALLOWAY, C.A. AND FEAGANS, L.A. Coping Motives as a Moderator of Daily Mood-Drinking Covariation

Objective: The current study examines the extent to which college students’ reports of drinking to cope (DTC) with negative affect moderate the daily covariation between specific types of negative mood (sadness, fear, hostility, shyness and boredom) and alcohol use. Method: Participants were full-time college students, aged 18-20, attending a large Southeastern university (N = 72; 50% male). These individuals completed an experience-sampling protocol over a 1-month interval, to assess daily mood and alcohol use. Results: A series of Hierarchical General Linear Models found that individuals who reported low motives to cope through drinking showed an expected absence of daily mood and drinking covariation. For those reporting high coping motives, a complex and somewhat counterintuitive series of findings were found; students high in DTC drank less on days in which they experienced greater sadness. Analyses on the quadratic effects of mood revealed that when experiencing moderate to high levels of fear and shyness, individuals high in DTC were more likely to drink. For those low in coping motivations, fear and shyness did not predict daily drinking. Conclusions: Findings highlight the need to better our understanding of the exact meaning of DTC measures. In addition, there is a need to study how the context of college drinking influences self-medication and students’ self-reports of DTC. (J. Stud. Alcohol 66: 344-353, 2005)

THOMAS, S., DROBES, D.J. AND DEAS, D. Alcohol Cue Reactivity in Alcohol-Dependent Adolescents

ABSTRACT. Objective: There is substantial evidence that adults with alcohol dependence show different responses (increased craving, increased salivation, changes in heart rate) to alcohol-related stimuli (i.e., alcohol cue reactivity) than nonalcoholics. Alcohol cue reactivity appears to be related to dependence severity and has been used to predict treatment outcomes, where more reactive alcoholics have poorer outcomes than less reactive alcoholics. Adolescents may also develop alcohol dependence, though it is uncertain whether they experience craving and cue reactivity in the presence of alcohol-associated stimuli. Method: To examine whether adolescents with alcohol dependence show alcohol cue reactivity, 28 alcoholic adolescents and 25 nonalcoholic adolescents (ages 14-19 years) were compared using a standard cue reactivity procedure, where participants view, hold and sniff different beverages, one of which is their preferred alcoholic beverage. Cue reactivity was assessed with subjective craving ratings, salivation (grams), and heart rate (beats per minute). Analyses were conducted by covarying response to control beverages. Results: Alcoholics responded with both greater craving and greater salivation to the alcohol cue (controlling for response to control cues) than did nonalcoholics, supporting the hypothesis that adolescent alcoholics show alcohol cue reactivity. Heart rate showed no differential cue effect between alcoholics and controls. Conclusions: Findings support that adolescent alcoholics experience alcohol cue reactivity, as evidenced by increased salivation and subjective craving in the presence of alcohol-related stimuli. Investigation of treatments that may reduce alcohol craving and cue reactivity in adolescents with alcohol dependence is warranted. (J. Stud. Alcohol 66: 354-360, 2005)