Changes in Sensation Seeking and Risk‐Taking Propensity Predict Increases in Alcohol Use Among Early Adolescents

Background: Conceptual models implicating disinhibitory traits often are applied to understanding emergent alcohol use, but, little is known of how inter‐individual changes in these constructs relate to increases in alcohol use in early adolescence. The current study utilized behavioral and self‐report instruments to capture the disinhibitory‐based constructs of sensation seeking and risk‐taking propensity to examine if increases in these constructs over time related to increases in early adolescent alcohol use. Methods: Participants included a community sample of 257 early adolescents (aged 9 to 12) who completed a self‐report measure of sensation seeking, a behavioral task assessing risk‐taking propensity, and a self‐report of past year alcohol use, at 3 annual assessment waves. Results: Both sensation seeking and risk‐taking propensity demonstrated significant increases over time, with additional evidence that change in the behavioral measure of risk‐taking propensity was not because of practice effects. Greater sensation seeking and greater risk‐taking propensity demonstrated concurrent relationships with past year alcohol use at each assessment wave. Prospective analyses indicated that after accounting for initial levels of alcohol use, sensation seeking, and risk‐taking propensity at the first assessment wave, larger increases in both constructs predicted greater odds of alcohol use at subsequent assessment waves. Conclusions: Results indicate the role of individual changes in disinhibitory traits in initial alcohol use in early adolescents. Specifically, findings suggest it is not simply initial levels of sensation seeking and risk‐taking propensity that contribute to subsequent alcohol use but in particular increases in each of these constructs that predict greater odds of use. Future work should continue to assess the development of sensation seeking and risk‐taking propensity in early adolescence and target these constructs in interventions as a potential means to reduce adolescent alcohol use.     

Developmental Trajectories of Impulsivity and Their Association With Alcohol Use and Related Outcomes During Emerging and Young Adulthood I

Background: Research has documented normative patterns of personality change during emerging and young adulthood that reflect decreases in traits associated with substance use, such as impulsivity. However, evidence suggests variability in these developmental changes. Methods: This study examined trajectories of impulsivity and their association with substance use and related problems from ages 18 to 35. Analyses were based on data collected from a cohort of college students (N = 489), at high and low risk for AUDs, first assessed as freshmen at a large, public university. Results: Mixture modeling identified five trajectory groups that differed in baseline levels of impulsivity and developmental patterns of change. Notably, the trajectory group that exhibited the sharpest declines in impulsivity tended to display accelerated decreases in alcohol involvement from ages 18 to 25 compared to the other impulsivity groups. Conclusion: Findings highlight the developmental nature of impulsivity across emerging and young adulthood and provide an empirical framework to identify key covariates of individual changes of impulsivity.     

No Wrong Doors: Findings from a Critical Review of Behavioral Randomized Clinical Trials for Individuals with Co‐Occurring Alcohol/Drug Problems and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Prior reviews of behavioral treatments for individuals with comorbid alcohol and drug use disorders (substance use disorder SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have not systematically considered whether comparison conditions are matched to target treatments on time and attention. A systematic literature search using PubMed MESH terms for alcohol and substance use disorders, PTSD, and treatment identified relevant behavioral randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that evaluated PTSD‐oriented exposure‐based treatments, addiction‐focused treatments, and coping‐based treatments that do not involve exposure to trauma memories. Information pertaining to within‐subject changes over time and between‐subject differences, quality of control condition, recruitment efficiency, and assessment and treatment retention was synthesized. Alcohol and drug outcomes were described separately when possible. Twenty‐four behavioral RCTs were identified: 7 exposure based, 6 addiction focused, and 11 coping based. Seven studies included SUD intervention comparison conditions matched to the target intervention on time and attention. Most of the 24 studies found that participants in both the experimental and control conditions improved significantly over time on SUD and PTSD outcomes. No study found significant between‐group differences in both SUD and PTSD outcomes favoring the experimental treatment. Despite greater treatment dropout, there was greater improvement in some PTSD outcomes for exposure‐based interventions than the control conditions, including when the control conditions were matched for time and attention. Addiction‐focused and coping‐based interventions did not generally show an advantage over comparably robust controls, although some coping‐based interventions yielded better drug use outcomes than control conditions. When available, interventions that integrate exposure‐based PTSD treatment and behavioral SUD treatment are recommended as they are associated with better PTSD outcomes than SUD care matched for time and attention. However, the results of this critical review also suggest that people with SUD/PTSD can benefit from a variety of treatment options, including standard SUD care.     

GABRA2 and Alcohol Use Disorders: No Evidence of an Association in an Italian Case–Control Study

Background: Alcoholism is a major health and social issue, a highly frequent disease and a cause of premature death. It is also the most expensive addictive disorder being related to high morbidity and mortality, violence, accidents, and social and legal problems. It is a quantitative disorder, where the combined incidence of environmental and multiple genetic factors varies from 1 subject to another. Recent association studies have identified several genes as candidates for alcoholism, including GABA_A receptor genes, due to their role in mediating several behavioral effects of alcohol, such as motor incoordination, anxiolysis, sedation, and withdrawal. The proposed association between the 3′ half of the gene encoding the alpha‐2 subunit of GABA receptor (3′‐GABRA2) and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) has received several independent confirmations. Methods: In this study, 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the 3′‐GABRA2 gene, previously reported to be implicated in alcohol dependence, were used to evaluate the linkage between selected SNPs and AUDs in an Italian sample and to compare findings with those of previous studies. Results: No evidence of an association was found at the allele, genotype, haplotype, or diplotype levels between the 3′‐GABRA2 polymorphisms investigated and alcoholism in 149 Italian alcoholics (98 alcohol dependents and 51 alcohol abusers) and 278 controls. Conclusions: Despite previous reports, we did not find an association between AUDs and 3′‐GABRA2 polymorphisms. This is probably due to the minimal comorbidity of our Italian sample suggesting that this gene is implicated in polysubstance dependence rather than in alcoholism alone.