Validation of multidimensional scaling-based modeling of alcohol expectancies in memory: age and drinking-related differences in expectancies of children assessed as first associates

BACKGROUND: As evidence has accumulated that alcohol expectancies mediate the effects of other drinking antecedents, attempts to understand the mechanism by which expectancies influence behavior have focused on modeling memory processes. Previous expectancy work, however, has used relatively indirect approaches to retrieve and model information stored in memory. By using the method most recommended by memory researchers for directly obtaining uncontaminated memory contents, we assessed children's expectancies and related findings to empirically modeled organization and activation of expectancies in memory based on scaled instruments. METHODS: Individual interviews were conducted with 462 children in 2nd through 5th grades, and surveys were completed by 1,003 children in 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th grades. Interviews and surveys consisted of a measure designed to retrieve participants' first expectancy associate to an alcohol prompt and several drinking quantity/frequency questions. RESULTS: Older and higher drinking children were more likely to report positive expectancies as their first associate to an alcohol prompt. Age and drinking-based findings were consistent with organizational structure, dimension emphasis shift, and paths of association identified by prior multidimensional scaling techniques. CONCLUSIONS: Consumption of alcohol among children corresponded to accessibility of positive expectancies in memory. In addition, the use of multidimensional scaling to study the organization and activation of alcohol expectancies in memory was validated.     

Ethnic disparities in clinical severity and services for alcohol problems: results from the National Alcohol Survey

BACKGROUND: This study reports lifetime estimates of the extent of unmet need for alcohol services across the 3 largest ethnic groups in America, and examines factors that may contribute to ethnic differences in service use. Prior studies report mixed findings as to the existence of ethnic disparities in alcohol services, with some suggesting that minorities are over-represented in treatment settings. METHODS: Drawing on the most recent National Alcohol Surveys, we compare rates and factors associated with the lifetime service use for alcohol problems among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics who meet lifetime criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence. RESULTS: While bivariate analyses revealed few ethnic differences in service use, there were significant differences by ethnicity in multivariate models that included alcohol problem severity and its interactions with ethnicity. At higher levels of problem severity, both Hispanics and Blacks were less likely to have utilized services than comparable Whites. Hispanics, on the whole, reported higher-severity alcohol problems than Whites. Yet, they were less likely to have received specialty treatment and multiple types of alcohol services, and were more likely to cite economic and logistical barriers as reasons for not obtaining care. CONCLUSIONS: Future efforts to study ethnic disparities in alcohol services should utilize analytic approaches that address potential confounding between ethnicity and other factors in service use, such as alcohol problem severity. Our findings suggest that Hispanics and Blacks with higher-severity alcohol problems may utilize services at lower rates than comparable Whites, and that, particularly for Hispanics, this may in part be attributable to financial and logistical barriers to care.     

Influence of subjective intoxication, breath alcohol concentration, and expectancies on the alcohol-aggression relation

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of subjective intoxication, alcohol-aggression expectancies, and breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) on intoxicated aggression in men and women while controlling for dispositional aggressivity. METHODS: Subjects were 328 (163 men and 165 women) healthy social drinkers between 21 and 35 years of age. Following the consumption of either an alcohol or an active placebo beverage, subjects were tested on a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm in which mild electric shocks were received from, and administered to, a fictitious opponent during a competitive task. Levels of subjective intoxication and BrAC were measured immediately before subjects began the aggression task. Aggressive behavior was operationalized as the shock intensities administered to the fictitious opponent under conditions of low and high provocation. RESULTS: Subjective intoxication ratings were not related to aggressive behavior for either men or women. Alcohol-aggression expectancies were related to aggression for men, but this effect was rendered nonsignificant when controlling for dispositional aggressivity, which in turn, was significantly related to the dependent variables for both men and women. Finally, BrAC was also related to aggression above and beyond the effects of dispositional aggressivity, yet only for men. CONCLUSIONS: Taken as a whole, this study suggests that intoxicated aggression is primarily the result of alcohol's pharmacological properties in conjunction with an aggressive disposition.     

Investigating gender differences in alcohol problems: a latent trait modeling approach

BACKGROUND: Inconsistent results have been found in research investigating gender differences in alcohol problems. Previous studies of gender differences used a wide range of methodological techniques, as well as limited assortments of alcohol problems. METHODS: Parents (1,348 men and 1,402 women) of twins enrolled in the Minnesota Twin Family Study answered questions about a wide range of alcohol problems. A latent trait modeling technique was used to evaluate gender differences in the probability of endorsement at the problem level and for the overall 105-problem scale. RESULTS: Of the 34 problems that showed significant gender differences, 29 were more likely to be endorsed by men than women with equivalent overall alcohol problem levels. These male-oriented symptoms included measures of heavy drinking, duration of drinking, tolerance, and acting out behaviors. Nineteen symptoms were denoted for removal to create a scale that favored neither gender in assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Significant gender differences were found in approximately one-third of the symptoms assessed and in the overall scale. Further examination of the nature of gender differences in alcohol problem symptoms should be undertaken to investigate whether a gender-neutral scale should be created or if men and women should be assessed with separate criteria for alcohol dependence and abuse.     

Ethnic Differences in Gastric α-Alcohol Dehydrogenase Activity and Ethanol First-Pass Metabolism

We assessed whether the low α-alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity in Japanese (compared with Caucasians) affects the first-pass metabolism of ethanol. ADH isozyme activities were determined in endoscopic biopsies of the gastric corpus from 24 Japanese and 41 Caucasian men by starch gel electrophoresis and by comparing the reduction of m-nitrobenzaldehyde (a preferred substrate of α-ADH) with that of acetaldehyde (a preferred substrate of γ-ADH) and the glutathione-dependent formaldehyde oxidation (a specific reaction of χ-ADH). Alcohol pharmacokinetics was compared in 10 Japanese and 10 Caucasians after administration of ethanol (300 mg/kg of body weight) intravenously or orally, using 5 and 40% oral solutions. Japanese exhibited lower α-ADH activity than Caucasians, with no difference in the other gastric isozymes. With 5% ethanol, first-pass metabolism was strikingly lower in Japanese than in Caucasions. Blood alcohol levels were similar because of the high elimination rate in Japanese due to the hepatic β₂-ADH variant. With 40% ethanol, the first-pass metabolism increased in both groups to comparable levels, suggesting an additional contribution by χ-ADH at high ethanol concentrations. These results indicate that α-ADH activity contributes significantly to gastric ethanol oxidation and its lower activity in Japanese is associated with lesser first-pass metabolism.     

Mood and implicit alcohol expectancy processes: predicting alcohol consumption in the laboratory

Background: Implicit positive alcohol expectancy (PAE) processes are thought to respond phasically to external and internal stimuli—including mood states—and so they may exert powerful proximal influences over drinking behavior. Although social learning theory contends that mood states activate mood‐congruent implicit PAEs, which in turn lead to alcohol use, there is a dearth of experimental research examining this mediation model relative to observable drinking. Moreover, an expectancy theory perspective might suggest that, rather than influencing PAEs directly, mood may moderate the association between PAEs and drinking. To test these models, this study examined the role of mood in the association between implicitly measured PAE processes (i.e., latency to endorse PAEs) and immediate alcohol consumption in the laboratory. Gender differences in these processes also were examined. Method: College students (N = 146) were exposed to either a positive, negative, or neutral mood induction procedure, completed a computerized PAE reaction time (RT) task, and subsequently consumed alcohol ad libitum. Results: The mood manipulation had no direct effects on drinking in the laboratory, making the mediation hypothesis irrelevant. Instead, gender and mood condition moderated the association between RT to endorse PAEs and drinking in the laboratory. For males, RT to tension reduction PAEs was a stronger predictor of volume of beer consumed and peak blood alcohol concentration in the context of general arousal (i.e., positive and negative mood) relative to neutral mood. RT to PAEs did not predict drinking in the laboratory for females. Conclusions: The results show that PAE processes are important determinants of immediate drinking behavior in men, suggesting that biased attention to mood‐relevant PAEs—as indicated by longer RTs—predicts greater alcohol consumption in the appropriate mood context. The findings also highlight the need to consider gender differences in PAE processes. This study underscores the need for interventions that target automatic cognitive processes related to alcohol use.     

Alcohol use in the year before marriage: alcohol expectancies and peer drinking as proximal influences on husband and wife alcohol involvement

BACKGROUND: Models of adolescent alcohol involvement that include individual difference, family, and peer risk factors indicate a significant association between the drinking of adolescents and that of their peers. Peer drinking influences, however, have not been investigated extensively in integrative models of adult drinking. The purpose of this study was to test a model of adult drinking that incorporated the potentially important risk factor of partner drinking and in which proximal risk factors (peer drinking, alcohol expectancies) were hypothesized to be strongly associated with adult alcohol use and to mediate relationships between more distal risk factors and drinking. METHODS: Couples (n = 389) were assessed at the time of their first marriage. Separate, self-administered questionnaires were completed at home by both husbands and wives. Distal risk factors included family history of alcoholism, antisocial behavior, and depressive symptomatology. Substantive relationships were tested in a model that included spousal associations with respect to distal risk factors, proximal risk factors, and drinking. RESULTS: Findings demonstrate the unique association of alcohol expectancies and peer drinking with adult alcohol use. Of particular relevance is the significance of the social network as a correlate of adult drinking. A peer network characterized by a higher level of alcohol involvement was strongly associated with heavier drinking among both men and women. This relationship was independent of sociodemographic and individual difference factors, alcohol expectancies, and partner's drinking. Results also demonstrate the similarity between husband and wife drinking, an association that cannot be attributed to assorting with respect to the other risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The social network continues to significantly impact drinking behavior in adulthood. The relevancy of peer and partner drinking influences to adult alcohol involvement suggests that the immediate social environment may have a prominent role in the continuity/discontinuity of heavy or problem drinking during the transition to marriage.     

Unique facial features distinguish fetal alcohol syndrome patients and controls in diverse ethnic populations

BACKGROUND: Effective management of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is dependent on the timely and reliable diagnosis of affected individuals. There are significant diagnostic difficulties because of the reduced prominence of facial features as children age to adulthood as well as potential population or ethnic differences in the most characteristic alcohol-related facial features. METHODS: A total of 276 subjects were recruited from 4 sites (Cape Town, South Africa; Helsinki, Finland; Buffalo, New York; and San Diego, California) and completed a detailed dysmorphology evaluation to classify subjects as either fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS; 43%) or control (57%). Computerized anthropometry was employed to identify facial features that could distinguish FAS patients from controls across a wide age range and across ethnically disparate study populations. RESULTS: Subjects were placed into 1 of 4 populations based on their ancestry (Cape Coloured, Finnish Caucasian, African American, or North American Caucasian). Analyses performed in each of the 4 study populations were able to identify a unique set of variables which provided excellent discrimination between the 2 groups (FAS, control). In each study group, at least one ocular-related measurement, shortened palpebral fissure, reduced outer canthal width, or reduced inner canthal width, was included in the final classification model. CONCLUSIONS: We found measurements that reflected reduced size of the eye orbit to be a consistent feature discriminating FAS and controls across each study population. However, each population had a unique, though often overlapping, set of variables which discriminated the 2 groups, suggesting important ethnic differences in the presentation of FAS. It is possible that these differences were accentuated by the wide age distribution of the study subjects.     

Strain differences in alcohol-induced neurochemical plasticity: a role for accumbens glutamate in alcohol intake

Background: Repeated alcohol administration alters nucleus accumbens (NAC) basal glutamate content and sensitizes the capacity of alcohol to increase NAC extracellular glutamate levels. However, the relevance of alcohol‐induced changes in NAC glutamate for alcohol drinking behavior is under‐investigated. Methods: To examine the relationship between genetic variance in alcohol consumption and alcohol‐induced neuroadaptations within the NAC, in vivo microdialysis was conducted in the alcohol‐preferring C57BL/6J (B6) and alcohol‐avoiding DBA2/J (D2) mouse strains on injections 1 and 8 of repeated alcohol treatment (8 × 2 g/kg, IP). To confirm an active role for NAC glutamate in regulating alcohol drinking behavior, the glutamate reuptake inhibitor dl ‐threo‐β‐benzyloxyaspartic acid (TBOA) (300 μM) and the Group 2 metabotropic glutamate autoreceptor agonist (2R,4R)‐4‐aminopyrrolidine‐2,4‐dicarboxylate (APDC) (50 μM) were infused into the NAC of B6 and D2 mice prior to alcohol consumption in a 4 bottle‐choice test. Results: While strain differences were not apparent for NAC basal levels of dopamine, serotonin or γ‐amino butyric acid (GABA), repeated alcohol treatment elevated NAC basal glutamate content only in B6 mice. Strain differences in both the acute and the sensitized neurochemical responses to 2 g/kg alcohol were observed for all neurotransmitters examined. While the alcohol‐induced rise in NAC dopamine and glutamate levels sensitized in B6 mice, a sensitization was not observed in D2 animals. Moreover, B6 mice exhibited a sensitized serotonin and GABA response to alcohol followed repeated treatment, whereas neither tolerance nor sensitization was observed in D2 animals. An intra‐NAC APDC infusion reduced alcohol intake in both B6 and D2 mice by approximately 50%. In contrast, TBOA infusion elevated alcohol intake selectively in B6 mice. Conclusions: These data indicate an active role for NAC glutamate in regulating alcohol consumption in mice and support the hypothesis that predisposition to high alcohol intake involves genetic factors that facilitate alcohol‐induced adaptations in glutamate release within the NAC.     

Birth cohort effects and gender differences in alcohol epidemiology: a review and synthesis

Background: Alcohol consumption has demonstrated substantial temporal trends, with some evidence suggesting strong birth cohort effects. The identification of at‐risk birth cohorts can inform the interpretation of alcohol trends across age, time, and demographic characteristics such as gender. The present literature review has 2 objectives. First, we conduct a cross‐national review of the literature on birth cohort differences in alcohol consumption, disorder, and mortality. Second, we determine the consistency of evidence for birth cohort effects on gender differences. Methods: A search was conducted and key data on population characteristics, presence and direction of cohort effects, and interactions with gender compiled. Thirty‐one articles were included. Results: Evidence suggests that younger birth cohorts in North America, especially those born after World War II, are more likely than older cohorts to engage in heavy episodic drinking and develop alcohol disorders, but this cohort effect is not found in Australia and western Europe. Cross‐nationally, substantial evidence indicates that women in younger cohorts are at especially high risk for heavy episodic drinking and alcohol disorders. Discussion: Younger birth cohorts in North America and Europe are engaging in more episodic and problem drinking. The gender gap in alcohol problems is narrowing in many countries, suggesting shifting social norms surrounding gender and alcohol consumption. These trends suggest that public health efforts to specifically target heavy drinking in women are necessary.     

Gender differences in response to emotional stress: an assessment across subjective, behavioral, and physiological domains and relations to alcohol craving

Background:  Women and men are at risk for different types of stress-related disorders, with women at greater risk for depression and anxiety and men at greater risk for alcohol-use disorders. The present study examines gender differences in emotional and alcohol craving responses to stress that may relate to this gender divergence in disorders.
Method:  Healthy adult social drinkers (27 men, 27 women) were exposed to individually developed and calibrated stressful, alcohol-related, and neutral-relaxing imagery, 1 imagery per session, on separate days and in random order. Subjective emotions, behavioral/bodily responses, cardiovascular arousal [heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP)], and self-reported alcohol craving were assessed.
Results:  Women reported and displayed greater sadness and anxiety following stress than men and men had greater diastolic BP response than women. No gender differences in alcohol craving, systolic BP or HR were observed. Subjective, behavioral, and cardiovascular measures were correlated in both genders. However, for men, but not women, alcohol craving was associated with greater subjective emotion and behavioral arousal following stress and alcohol cues.
Conclusions:  These data suggest that men and women respond to stress differently, with women experiencing greater sadness and anxiety, while men show a greater integration of reward motivation (craving) and emotional stress systems. These findings have implications for the gender-related divergence in vulnerability for stress-related disorders, with women at greater risk for anxiety and depression than men, and men at greater risk for alcohol-use disorders than women.     

The relationship between recent alcohol use and sexual behaviors: gender differences among sexually transmitted disease clinic patients

Background: Binge drinking is associated with risky sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Few studies have investigated this by gender or in an STD clinic. This cross‐sectional study examined the association between binge drinking and risky sexual behaviors/STDs among patients attending an urban STD clinic. Method: A total of 671 STD clinic patients were tested for STDs, and queried about recent alcohol/drug use and risky sexual behaviors using audio computer‐assisted‐self‐interview. The association between binge drinking and sexual behaviors/STDs was analyzed using logistic regression adjusting for age, employment, and drug use. Results: Binge drinking was reported by 30% of women and 42% of men. Gender differences were found in rates of receptive anal sex which increased linearly with increased alcohol use among women but did not differ among men. Within gender analyses showed that women binge drinkers engaged in anal sex at more than twice the rate of women who drank alcohol without binges (33.3% vs. 15.9%; p < 0.05) and 3 times the rate of women who abstained from alcohol (11.1%; p < 0.05). Having multiple sex partners was more than twice as common among women binge drinkers than women abstainers (40.5% vs. 16.8%; p < 0.05). Gonorrhea was nearly 5 times higher among women binge drinkers compared to women abstainers (10.6% vs. 2.2%; p < 0.05). The association between binge drinking and sexual behaviors/gonorrhea remained after controlling for drug use. Among men, rates of risky sexual behaviors/STDs were high, but did not differ by alcohol use. Conclusion: Rates of binge drinking among STD clinic patients were high. Among women, binge drinking was uniquely associated with risky sexual behaviors and an STD diagnosis. Our findings support the need to routinely screen for binge drinking as part of clinical care in STD clinics. Women binge drinkers, in particular, may benefit from interventions that jointly address binge drinking and risky sexual behaviors. Developing gender‐specific interventions could improve overall health outcomes in this population.     

Induction and maintenance of ethanol self-administration in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis): long-term characterization of sex and individual differences

BACKGROUND: Investigations of oral ethanol self-administration in nonhuman primates have revealed important parallels with human alcohol use and abuse, yet many fundamental questions concerning the individual risk to, and the biological basis of, excessive ethanol consumption remain unanswered. Moreover, many conditions of access to ethanol in nonhuman primate research are largely unexplored. This set of experiments extends within- and across-session exposure to ethanol to more fully characterize individual differences in oral ethanol self-administration. METHODS: Eight male and eight female adult cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were exposed to daily oral ethanol self-administration sessions for approximately 9 months. During the first 3 months, a fixed-time (FT) schedule of food delivery was used to induce the consumption of an allotted dose of ethanol in 16-hr sessions. Subsequently, the FT schedule was suspended, and ethanol was available ad libitum for 6 months in 16- or 22-hr sessions. RESULTS: Cynomolgus monkeys varied greatly in their propensity to self-administer ethanol, with sex and individual differences apparent within 10 days of ethanol exposure. Over the last 3 months of ethanol access, individual average ethanol intakes ranged from 0.6 to 4.0 g/kg/day, resulting in blood ethanol concentrations from 5 to 235 mg/dl. Males drank approximately 1.5-fold more than females. In addition, heavy-, moderate-, and light-drinking phenotypes were identified by using daily ethanol intake and the percentage of daily calories obtained from ethanol as criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Cynomolgus monkeys displayed a wide intersubject range of oral ethanol self-administration with a procedure that used a uniform and prolonged induction that restricted early exposure to ethanol and subsequently allowed unlimited access to ethanol. There were sex and stable individual differences in the propensity of monkeys to consume ethanol, indicating that this species will be important in characterizing risk factors associated with heavy-drinking phenotypes.     

Ethnic differences in drinking outcomes following a brief alcohol intervention in the trauma care setting

Background Evidence suggests that brief interventions in the trauma care setting reduce drinking, subsequent injury and driving under the influence (DUI) arrest. However, evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions in ethnic minority groups is lacking. The current study evaluates the efficacy of brief intervention among whites, blacks and Hispanics in the United States. Methods We conducted a two‐group parallel randomized trial comparing brief motivational intervention (BMI) and treatment as usual with assessment (TAU+) to evaluate treatment differences in drinking patterns by ethnicity. Patients were recruited from a level 1 urban trauma center over a 2‐year period. The study included 1493 trauma patients, including 668 whites, 288 blacks and 537 Hispanics. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to evaluate ethnic differences in drinking outcomes including volume per week, maximum amount consumed in 1 day, percentage days abstinent and percentage days heavy drinking at 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up. Analyses controlled for age, gender, employment status, marital status, prior alcohol treatment, type of injury and injury severity. Special emphasis was given to potential ethnic differences by testing the interaction between ethnicity and BMI. Results At 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up, BMI significantly reduced maximum amount consumed in 1 day (P < 0.001; P < 0.001, respectively) and percentage days heavy drinking (P < 0.05; P < 0.05, respectively) among Hispanics. Hispanics in the BMI group also reduced average volume per week at 12‐month follow‐up (χ² = 6.8, df = 1, P < 0.01). In addition, Hispanics in TAU+ reduced maximum amount consumed at 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up (P < 0.001; P < 0.001) and volume per week at 12‐month follow‐up (P < 0.001). Whites and blacks in both BMI and TAU+ reduced volume per week and percentage days heavy drinking at 12‐month follow‐up (P < 0.001; P < 0.01, respectively) and decreased maximum amount at 6‐ (P < 0.001) and 12‐month follow‐up (P < 0.001). All three ethnic groups In both BMI and TAU+ reduced volume per week at 6‐month follow‐up (P < 0.001) and percentage days abstinent at 6‐ (P < 0.001) and 12‐month follow‐up (P < 0.001). Conclusions All three ethnic groups evidenced reductions in drinking at 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up independent of treatment assignment. Among Hispanics, BMI reduced alcohol intake significantly as measured by average volume per week, percentage days heavy drinking and maximum amount consumed in 1 day.     

Alcohol expectancies, conduct disorder and early-onset alcoholism: negative alcohol expectancies are associated with less drinking in non-impulsive versus impulsive subjects

AIMS: Research suggests that positive alcohol expectancies promote excessive alcohol use while negative alcohol expectancies discourage excessive alcohol use. Evidence suggests that disinhibitory characteristics, such as conduct disorder and impulsivity, are associated with a general neglect of long-term negative outcomes. This study assessed whether negative expectancies would be associated more strongly with lower levels of alcohol use for low- compared with high-impulsive individuals. DESIGN: Positive and negative alcohol expectancies, alcohol use and impulsivity were assessed in a sample of 99 young adults with alcohol dependence (AD) and conduct disorder (CD), 77 with AD and no CD and 124 controls. FINDINGS: AD/CD subjects had higher proximal (same day) and distal (next day) negative alcohol expectancies, even though they drank more alcohol, compared with AD-alone and control subjects. Distal negative expectancies were associated more strongly with lower levels of drinking for low-impulsive compared with high-impulsive subjects. Proximal negative expectancies were associated more strongly with higher alcohol consumption for high- versus low-impulsive subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Impulsivity and conduct disorder may be important factors in determining how much distal negative alcohol expectancies may discourage excessive alcohol consumption.     

The effects of alcohol expectancies on drinking behaviour in peer groups: observations in a naturalistic setting

AIMS: To study the functionality of alcohol expectancies in predicting drinking behaviour in existing peer groups of young adults in a 'naturalistic' setting. DESIGN AND SETTING: Young adults were invited to join an experiment with their peer group in a bar annex laboratory. During a 'break' of 50 minutes in this experiment, their activities, social behaviour and drinking behaviour were observed with digital video and audio equipment. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-eight peer groups were involved in this study. A peer group consisted of seven to nine people, with relationships ranging from intimate relations and close friendships to being acquaintances. A total of 238 participants were involved. Measurements Information of the drinking behaviour from observations and questionnaire data on alcohol expectancies provide the opportunity to look at how and which expectancies are related to actual drinking patterns. Multiple regression and multi-level analyses were applied. FINDINGS: Expectancies on the positive and arousing effects of alcohol consumption were related to alcohol consumption in a naturalistic, social drinking situation, in addition to group effects of drinking. Expectancies on the negative and sedative effects of drinking, however, were not related to drinking. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that among young adults observed in a peer group and naturalistic drinking setting, positive expectancies about the effects of alcohol and expectancies about the effects of alcohol on arousal are related positively to drinking level.     

Gender Differences in the Brain: Implications for the Study of Human Alcoholism

Gender differences in alcohol intake and response to alcohol may be influenced by basic variations in the organization and modulation of male and female brains. Although a number of genetic, social, environmental, and metabolic factors have been proposed to explain the gender differences observed in risk for alcoholism, alcohol intake, and medical consequences of excessive alcohol intake, very little attention has been given to the role of gender differences in the brain regarding alcohol use. Recent evidence documents the influence of neurosteroids on neurotransmitter activity in the brain and the impact of alcohol on neurosteroid levels. Neurosteroids are found in different levels in males and females during development and throughout life, depending on factors such as age, stage of development, estrous and menstrual cycles, and stress. This study discusses the hypothesis that many of the gender differences observed concerning alcohol use and misuse are determined by gender differences in the brain, which in turn differentially influence the behavioral and neurochemical responses of males and females to alcohol.     

Longitudinal model predicting partner violence among white, black, and Hispanic couples in the United States

BACKGROUND: A limited amount of information pertaining to ethnic-specific risk factors associated with intimate partner violence across time currently exists. The current study examines ethnic-specific longitudinal predictors of male-to-female and female-to-male partner violence (MFPV and FMPV) in white, black, and Hispanic couples in the U.S. general population. METHODS: In 1995, a total of 1635 married or cohabitating couples 18 years of age or older living in households in the 48 contiguous states participated in a national survey that used a multistage probability sampling procedure with 100 primary sampling units and included oversamples of blacks and Hispanics. In 2000, the follow-up survey had an overall response rate of 72% and included 406 white, 232 black, and 387 Hispanic intact couples.Ethnic-specific regression models predicting MFPV and FMPV at follow-up were developed. The risk factors of interest included male and female reports of history of childhood abuse, exposure to parental violence, impulsivity, alcohol problems, frequency of drinking five or more drinks per occasion, volume of alcohol consumed per week in average standard drinks, approval of marital aggression and male-to-female and female-to-male partner violence at baseline. MFPV and FMPV in 1995 and 2000 were based on the Conflict Tactics Scale Form R. RESULTS: Black and Hispanic couples were at approximately three times greater risk of MFPV and two times greater risk of FMPV at follow-up in comparison to white couples even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, alcohol consumption, and psychosocial variables. Extreme specific models indicated that among blacks, MFPV was a significant predictor of MFPV and FMPV at follow-up. In contrast, among Hispanics, FMPV was a significant predictor of FMPV and MFPV at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic-specific multivariate logistic regression models indicated that the predictors of MFPV and FMPV including psychosocial variables, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems varied by ethnicity. These findings contribute to our continually growing knowledge base regarding ethnic differences associated with the development of intimate partner violence and have important implications for prevention and intervention.