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. 2018 Jul:209:51-58.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.027. Epub 2018 May 14.

Childhood socioeconomic status and longitudinal patterns of alcohol problems: Variation across etiological pathways in genetic risk

Peter B Barr  1 , Judy Silberg  2 , Danielle M Dick  3 , Hermine H Maes  4
Affiliations

Childhood socioeconomic status and longitudinal patterns of alcohol problems: Variation across etiological pathways in genetic risk

Peter B Barr et al. Soc Sci Med. 2018 Jul.

Abstract

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is an important aspect of early life environment associated with later life health/health behaviors, including alcohol misuse. However, alcohol misuse is modestly heritable and involves differing etiological pathways. Externalizing disorders show significant genetic overlap with substance use, suggesting an impulsivity pathway to alcohol misuse. Alcohol misuse also overlaps with internalizing disorders, suggesting alcohol is used to cope. These differing pathways could lead to different patterns over time and/or differential susceptibility to environmental conditions, such as childhood SES. We examine whether: 1) genetic risk for externalizing and internalizing disorders influence trajectories of alcohol problems across adolescence to adulthood, 2) childhood SES alters genetic risk these disorders on trajectories of alcohol problems, and 3) these patterns are consistent across sex. We find modest evidence of gene-environment interaction. Higher childhood SES increases the risk of alcohol problems in late adolescence/early adulthood, while lower childhood SES increases the risk of alcohol problems in later adulthood, but only among males at greater genetic risk of externalizing disorders. Females from lower SES families with higher genetic risk of internalizing or externalizing disorders have greater risk of developing alcohol problems.

Keywords: Alcohol misuse; Childhood socioeconomic status; Gene-environment interaction; Life course.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predicted values for alcohols problems across time, genetic risk, levels of childhood SES, and sex. Genetic risk values were set to ± 1 SD from the mean. SES values set to ± 2 SD from the mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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