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Multicenter Study
. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2425114.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.25114.

Personality, Social Factors, Brain Functioning, Familial Risk, and Trajectories of Alcohol Misuse in Adolescence

Mira Tschorn  1   2 , Laura Daedelow  2   3   4 , Laura Szalek  1 , Tobias Banaschewski  2   5 , Arun L W Bokde  6 , Sylvane Desrivières  7 , Herta Flor  8   9 , Antoine Grigis  10 , Hugh Garavan  11   12 , Penny Gowland  13 , Jean-Luc Martinot  14 , Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot  14   15 , Eric Artiges  16 , Frauke Nees  5   8   17 , Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos  10 , Luise Poustka  18 , Sarah Hohmann  5 , Christian Buechl  19 , Michael N Smolka  19 , Nilakshi Vaidya  20 , Henrik Walter  3 , Robert Whelan  21 , Gunter Schumann  20   22 , Andreas Heinz  2   3 , Michael A Rapp  1   2 ; IMAGEN Consortium
Collaborators, Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Personality, Social Factors, Brain Functioning, Familial Risk, and Trajectories of Alcohol Misuse in Adolescence

Mira Tschorn et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Abstract

Importance: The development of an alcohol use disorder in adolescence is associated with increased risk of future alcohol dependence. The differential associations of risk factors with alcohol use over the course of 8 years are important for preventive measures.

Objective: To determine the differential associations of risk-taking aspects of personality, social factors, brain functioning, and familial risk with hazardous alcohol use in adolescents over the course of 8 years.

Design, setting, and participants: The IMAGEN multicenter longitudinal cohort study included adolescents recruited from European schools in Germany, the UK, France, and Ireland from January 2008 to January 2019. Eligible participants included those with available neuropsychological, self-report, imaging, and genetic data at baseline. Adolescents who were ineligible for magnetic resonance imaging or had serious medical conditions were excluded. Data analysis was conducted from July 2021 to September 2022.

Exposure: Personality testing, psychosocial factors, brain functioning, and familial risk of alcohol misuse.

Main outcome and measures: Hazardous alcohol use as measured with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores, a main planned outcome of the IMAGEN study. Alcohol misuse trajectories at ages 14, 16, 19, and 22 years were modeled using latent growth curve models.

Results: A total of 2240 adolescents (1110 female [49.6%] and 1130 male [50.4%]) were included in the study. There was a significant negative association of psychosocial resources (β = -0.29; SE = 0.03; P < .001) with the general risk of alcohol misuse as well as a significant positive association of the risk-taking aspects of personality with the intercept (β = 0.19; SE = 0.04; P < .001). Furthermore, there were significant positive associations of the social domain (β = 0.13; SE = 0.02; P < .001) and the personality domain (β = 0.07; SE = 0.02; P < .001) with trajectories of alcohol misuse development over time (slope). Family history of substance misuse was negatively associated with general risk of alcohol misuse (β = -0.04; SE = 0.02; P = .045) and its development over time (β = -0.03; SE = 0.01; P = .01). Brain functioning showed no significant association with intercept or slope of alcohol misuse in the model.

Conclusions and relevance: The findings of this cohort study suggest known risk factors of adolescent drinking may contribute differentially to future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Banaschewski reported receiving personal fees from the Eye Level, Infectopharm, Medice, Neurim Pharmaceuticals, Oberberg GmbH, Takeda, Oxford University Press, CIP Medien, Kohlhammer, Hogrefe, and Janssen-Cilag outside the submitted work. Dr Bokde reported receiving grants from the National Children’s Hospital Foundation (Ireland), Horizon 2020 (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme), and the Health Research Board (Ireland) outside the submitted work. Dr Desrivières reported receiving grants from the Medical Research Council, Medical Research Foundation, National Institute on Aging, and Innovate UK outside the submitted work. Dr Poustka reported receiving personal fees from Takeda, Infectopharm, and Hogrefe outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Latent Growth Curve Model
Green paths show statistically significant positive associations and red paths show statistically significant negative associations. AUDIT indicates Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test; BL, baseline; FU, follow-up; LEQ, Live Events Questionnaire; MID, monetary incentive delay; SES, socioeconomic status; vmPFC, ventromedial prefrontal cortex; VS, ventral striatum.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) Trajectories Visualized as Linear Regression Lines Based on AUDIT Raw Scores Grouped for Highest and Lowest Domain Scores
A, The 10% highest and lowest scores in the social domain (socioeconomic status [SES] and life events); higher scores correspond to higher SES and lower frequency of life events related to family and sexuality. B, The 10% highest and lowest scores in the personality domain (impulsivity, extraversion, and risk-taking); higher scores correspond to higher impulsivity, extraversion, and risk-taking. Points indicate AUDIT group mean scores for each time point. Bold lines indicate mean regression lines based on AUDIT raw scores. Thin lines indicate individual regression lines based on AUDIT raw scores. BL indicates baseline; FU, follow-up.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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