Drinking motives, personality traits and life stressors-identifying pathways to harmful alcohol use in adolescence using a panel network approach

doi:10.1111/add.16231

. 2023 Oct;118(10):1908-1919.

doi: 10.1111/add.16231. Epub 2023 May 25.

Drinking motives, personality traits and life stressors-identifying pathways to harmful alcohol use in adolescence using a panel network approach

René Freichel¹, Janine Pfirrmann¹, Janna Cousijn², Peter de Jong³, Ingmar Franken², Tobias Banaschewski⁴, Arun L W Bokde⁵, Sylvane Desrivières⁶, Herta Flor^{7

8}, Antoine Grigis⁹, Hugh Garavan¹⁰, Andreas Heinz¹¹, Jean-Luc Martinot¹², Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot^{12

13}, Eric Artiges^{12

14}, Frauke Nees¹⁵, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos⁹, Luise Poustka¹⁶, Sarah Hohmann⁴, Juliane H Fröhner¹⁷, Michael N Smolka¹⁷, Nilakshi Vaidya¹⁸, Robert Whelan¹⁹, Gunter Schumann^{18

20}, Henrik Walter¹¹, Ilya M Veer¹, Reinout W Wiers^{1

21}; IMAGEN Consortium

Affiliations

¹ Addiction Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT)-lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
² Center for Substance Use and Addiction Research. (CESAR), Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁵ Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁶ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, SGDP Centre, King's College London, UK.
⁷ Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁸ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
⁹ NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹⁰ Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
¹² Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U A10 'Trajectoires développementales en psychiatrie', Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹³ AP-HP, Sorbonne Université, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France.
¹⁴ Psychiatry Department, EPS Barthélémy Durand, Etampes, France.
¹⁵ Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
¹⁸ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS), Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
¹⁹ School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²⁰ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute for Science and Technology of Brain-inspired Intelligence (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
²¹ Center for Urban Mental Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 37157052
PMCID: PMC11497352
DOI: 10.1111/add.16231

Drinking motives, personality traits and life stressors-identifying pathways to harmful alcohol use in adolescence using a panel network approach

René Freichel et al. Addiction. 2023 Oct.

. 2023 Oct;118(10):1908-1919.

doi: 10.1111/add.16231. Epub 2023 May 25.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Addiction Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT)-lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
² Center for Substance Use and Addiction Research. (CESAR), Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁵ Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁶ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, SGDP Centre, King's College London, UK.
⁷ Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁸ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
⁹ NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹⁰ Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
¹² Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U A10 'Trajectoires développementales en psychiatrie', Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹³ AP-HP, Sorbonne Université, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France.
¹⁴ Psychiatry Department, EPS Barthélémy Durand, Etampes, France.
¹⁵ Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
¹⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
¹⁸ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS), Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
¹⁹ School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²⁰ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute for Science and Technology of Brain-inspired Intelligence (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
²¹ Center for Urban Mental Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

PMID: 37157052
PMCID: PMC11497352
DOI: 10.1111/add.16231

Abstract

Background and aims: Models of alcohol use risk suggest that drinking motives represent the most proximal risk factors on which more distal factors converge. However, little is known about how distinct risk factors influence each other and alcohol use on different temporal scales (within a given moment versus over time). We aimed to estimate the dynamic associations of distal (personality and life stressors) and proximal (drinking motives) risk factors, and their relationship to alcohol use in adolescence and early adulthood using a novel graphical vector autoregressive (GVAR) panel network approach.

Design, setting and cases: We estimated panel networks on data from the IMAGEN study, a longitudinal European cohort study following adolescents across three waves (aged 16, 19 and 22 years). Our sample consisted of 1829 adolescents (51% females) who reported alcohol use on at least one assessment wave.

Measurements: Risk factors included personality traits (NEO-FFI: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness; SURPS: impulsivity and sensation-seeking), stressful life events (LEQ: sum scores of stressful life events), and drinking motives [drinking motives questionnaire (DMQ): social, enhancement, conformity, coping anxiety and coping depression]. We assessed alcohol use [alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): quantity and frequency] and alcohol-related problems (AUDIT: related problems).

Findings: Within a given moment, social [partial correlation (pcor) = 0.17] and enhancement motives (pcor = 0.15) co-occurred most strongly with drinking quantity and frequency, while coping depression motives (pcor = 0.13), openness (pcor = 0.05) and impulsivity (pcor = 0.09) were related to alcohol-related problems. The temporal network showed no predictive associations between distal risk factors and drinking motives. Social motives (beta = 0.21), previous alcohol use (beta = 0.11) and openness (beta = 0.10) predicted alcohol-related problems over time (all P < 0.01).

Conclusions: Heavy and frequent alcohol use, along with social drinking motives, appear to be key targets for preventing the development of alcohol-related problems throughout late adolescence. We found no evidence for personality traits and life stressors predisposing towards distinct drinking motives over time.

Keywords: Adolescence; alcohol use; alcohol-related problems; drinking motives; panel network; risk factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

T.B. served in an advisory or consultancy role for Lundbeck, Medice, Neurim Pharmaceuticals, Oberberg GmbH and Shire. He received conference support or speaker’s fee from Lilly, Medice, Novartis and Shire. He has been involved in clinical trials conducted by Shire and Viforpharma. He has received royalties from Hogrefe, Kohlhammer, CIP Medien and Oxford University Press. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. L.P. served in an advisory or consultancy role for Roche and Viforpharm and received speaker’s fee from Shire. She received royalties from Hogrefe, Kohlhammer and Schattauer. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. The other authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

**FIGURE 1**
Fixed‐effect contemporaneous associations within the same time window. The thickness and color (blue = positive, red = negative) of the edges represent the strength and direction of the associations, respectively.

**FIGURE 2**
Fixed‐effect directed temporal associations.

**FIGURE 3**
Outgoing and incoming strength of all nodes. The radar chart visualizes the degree (y‐axis) to which variables in the temporal network influence other variables (out‐strength) and are being influenced by other variables (in‐strength) over time.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

1. Wood AM, Kaptoge S, Butterworth AS, Willeit P, Warnakula S, Bolton T, et al. Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual‐participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. Lancet. 2018;391:1513–1523. - PMC - PubMed
1. Effertz T, Mann K. The burden and cost of disorders of the brain in Europe with the inclusion of harmful alcohol use and nicotine addiction. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013;23:742–748. - PubMed
1. Brown SA, McGue M, Maggs J, Schulenberg J, Hingson R, Swartzwelder S, et al. A developmental perspective on alcohol and youths 16 to 20 years of age. Pediatrics. 2008;121:S290–S310. - PMC - PubMed
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1. de Goede J, van der Mark‐Reeuwijk KG, Braun KP, le Cessie S, Durston S, Engels RCME, et al. Alcohol and brain development in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of the literature and advisory report of the Health Council of the Netherlands. Adv Nutr. 2021;12:1379–1410. - PubMed

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[1] Wood AM, Kaptoge S, Butterworth AS, Willeit P, Warnakula S, Bolton T, et al. Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual‐participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. Lancet. 2018;391:1513–1523. - PMC - PubMed

[2] Wood AM, Kaptoge S, Butterworth AS, Willeit P, Warnakula S, Bolton T, et al. Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual‐participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies. Lancet. 2018;391:1513–1523. - PMC - PubMed

[3] Effertz T, Mann K. The burden and cost of disorders of the brain in Europe with the inclusion of harmful alcohol use and nicotine addiction. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013;23:742–748. - PubMed

[4] Effertz T, Mann K. The burden and cost of disorders of the brain in Europe with the inclusion of harmful alcohol use and nicotine addiction. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013;23:742–748. - PubMed

[5] Brown SA, McGue M, Maggs J, Schulenberg J, Hingson R, Swartzwelder S, et al. A developmental perspective on alcohol and youths 16 to 20 years of age. Pediatrics. 2008;121:S290–S310. - PMC - PubMed

[6] Brown SA, McGue M, Maggs J, Schulenberg J, Hingson R, Swartzwelder S, et al. A developmental perspective on alcohol and youths 16 to 20 years of age. Pediatrics. 2008;121:S290–S310. - PMC - PubMed

[7] Squeglia LM, Gray KM. Alcohol and drug use and the developing brain. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2016;18:46. - PMC - PubMed

[8] Squeglia LM, Gray KM. Alcohol and drug use and the developing brain. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2016;18:46. - PMC - PubMed

[9] de Goede J, van der Mark‐Reeuwijk KG, Braun KP, le Cessie S, Durston S, Engels RCME, et al. Alcohol and brain development in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of the literature and advisory report of the Health Council of the Netherlands. Adv Nutr. 2021;12:1379–1410. - PubMed

[10] de Goede J, van der Mark‐Reeuwijk KG, Braun KP, le Cessie S, Durston S, Engels RCME, et al. Alcohol and brain development in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of the literature and advisory report of the Health Council of the Netherlands. Adv Nutr. 2021;12:1379–1410. - PubMed

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Drinking motives, personality traits and life stressors-identifying pathways to harmful alcohol use in adolescence using a panel network approach

Affiliations

Drinking motives, personality traits and life stressors-identifying pathways to harmful alcohol use in adolescence using a panel network approach

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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