Prediction of alcohol drinking in adolescents: Personality-traits, behavior, brain responses, and genetic variations in the context of reward sensitivity

Adolescence is a time that can set the course of alcohol abuse later in life. Sensitivity to reward on multiple levels is a major factor in this development. We examined 736 adolescents from the IMAGEN longitudinal study for alcohol drinking during early (mean age = 14.37) and again later (mean age = 16.45) adolescence. Conducting structural equation modeling we evaluated the contribution of reward-related personality traits, behavior, brain responses and candidate genes. Personality seems to be most important in explaining alcohol drinking in early adolescence. However, genetic variations in ANKK1 (rs1800497) and HOMER1 (rs7713917) play an equal role in predicting alcohol drinking two years later and are most important in predicting the increase in alcohol consumption. We hypothesize that the initiation of alcohol use may be driven more strongly by personality while the transition to increased alcohol use is more genetically influenced

Neuropsychosocial profiles of current and future adolescent alcohol misusers

A comprehensive account of the causes of alcohol misuse must accommodate individual differences in biology, psychology and environment, and must disentangle cause and effect. Animal models1 can demonstrate the effects of neurotoxic substances; however, they provide limited insight into the psycho-social and higher cognitive factors involved in the initiation of substance use and progression to misuse. One can search for pre-existing risk factors by testing for endophenotypic biomarkers2 in non-using relatives; however, these relatives may have personality or neural resilience factors that protect them from developing dependence3. A longitudinal study has potential to identify predictors of adolescent substance misuse, particularly if it can incorporate a wide range of potential causal factors, both proximal and distal, and their influence on numerous social, psychological and biological mechanisms4. Here we apply machine learning to a wide range of data from a large sample of adolescents (n = 692) to generate models of current and future adolescent alcohol misuse that incorporate brain structure and function, individual personality and cognitive differences, environmental factors (including gestational cigarette and alcohol exposure), life experiences, and candidate genes. These models were accurate and generalized to novel data, and point to life experiences, neurobiological differences and personality as important antecedents of binge drinking. By identifying the vulnerability factors underlying individual differences in alcohol misuse, these models shed light on the aetiology of alcohol misuse and suggest targets for prevention

Differential predictors for alcohol use in adolescents as a function of familial risk

Abstract: Traditional models of future alcohol use in adolescents have used variable-centered approaches, predicting alcohol use from a set of variables across entire samples or populations. Following the proposition that predictive factors may vary in adolescents as a function of family history, we used a two-pronged approach by first defining clusters of familial risk, followed by prediction analyses within each cluster. Thus, for the first time in adolescents, we tested whether adolescents with a family history of drug abuse exhibit a set of predictors different from adolescents without a family history. We apply this approach to a genetic risk score and individual differences in personality, cognition, behavior (risk-taking and discounting) substance use behavior at age 14, life events, and functional brain imaging, to predict scores on the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) at age 14 and 16 in a sample of adolescents (N = 1659 at baseline, N = 1327 at follow-up) from the IMAGEN cohort, a longitudinal community-based cohort of adolescents. In the absence of familial risk (n = 616), individual differences in baseline drinking, personality measures (extraversion, negative thinking), discounting behaviors, life events, and ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, while the overall model explained 22% of the variance in future AUDIT. In the presence of familial risk (n = 711), drinking behavior at age 14, personality measures (extraversion, impulsivity), behavioral risk-taking, and life events were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, explaining 20.1% of the overall variance. Results suggest that individual differences in personality, cognition, life events, brain function, and drinking behavior contribute differentially to the prediction of future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions

Differential predictors for alcohol use in adolescents as a function of familial risk

Abstract: Traditional models of future alcohol use in adolescents have used variable-centered approaches, predicting alcohol use from a set of variables across entire samples or populations. Following the proposition that predictive factors may vary in adolescents as a function of family history, we used a two-pronged approach by first defining clusters of familial risk, followed by prediction analyses within each cluster. Thus, for the first time in adolescents, we tested whether adolescents with a family history of drug abuse exhibit a set of predictors different from adolescents without a family history. We apply this approach to a genetic risk score and individual differences in personality, cognition, behavior (risk-taking and discounting) substance use behavior at age 14, life events, and functional brain imaging, to predict scores on the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) at age 14 and 16 in a sample of adolescents (N = 1659 at baseline, N = 1327 at follow-up) from the IMAGEN cohort, a longitudinal community-based cohort of adolescents. In the absence of familial risk (n = 616), individual differences in baseline drinking, personality measures (extraversion, negative thinking), discounting behaviors, life events, and ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, while the overall model explained 22% of the variance in future AUDIT. In the presence of familial risk (n = 711), drinking behavior at age 14, personality measures (extraversion, impulsivity), behavioral risk-taking, and life events were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, explaining 20.1% of the overall variance. Results suggest that individual differences in personality, cognition, life events, brain function, and drinking behavior contribute differentially to the prediction of future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions

Erforschung exzessiver Smartphone-Nutzung: Empfehlungen zur Vorgehensweise

Ziel: In der Fachwelt besteht noch große Uneinigkeit im Hinblick auf eine mögliche Klassifikation exzessiver Smartphone-Nutzung (ESN) als Störung aufgrund einer Verhaltenssucht. In diesem Positionspapier werden relevante inhaltliche und methodische Aspekte bisheriger Forschungsarbeiten zum Thema ESN dargestellt. Daraus werden Empfehlungen abgeleitet, welche Vorgehensweisen bei zukünftigen Forschungsarbeiten verstärkt Berücksichtigung finden sollten. Schlussfolgerungen: Unsere Empfehlungen umfassen folgende Punkte: 1. Entwicklung und konsistente Nutzung von Smartphone-basierten Messinstrumenten, die die Erhebung von Echtzeitnutzungsdaten und das Vorlegen von zeitgesteuerten Fragebögen erlauben, 2. Validierung dieser Instrumente an großen, repräsentativen Stichproben in Deutschland, 3. Untersuchungen mittels Echtzeit-Messinstrumenten zur Beantwortung der Frage, inwiefern ESN Suchtcharakter annehmen kann, sprich inwieweit zentrale Suchtkriterien erfüllt werden, 4. Klärung der zentralen Frage, inwiefern ESN spezifisch (d. h. die Nutzung von spezifischen Smartphone-Funktionen wie z. B. soziale Netzwerke) oder generalisiert (d. h. im Sinne eines Verhaltensmusters der allgemeinen Smartphone-Überbeanspruchung) erfolgt. Langfristig sollten weitere Studien zur Neurobiologie, sowie zur Langzeitstabilität von ESN durchgeführt werden, bevor die Klassifikation der ESN als Störung aufgrund einer Verhaltenssucht empfohlen werden kann

Insula and striatum activity in effort-related monetary reward processing in gambling disorder: The role of depressive symptomatology

The neurobiological underpinnings of effort-related monetary reward processing of gambling disorder have not been previously studied. To date neuroimaging studies lack in large sample sizes and as a consequence less attention has been given to brain reward processing that could potentially be attributed to comorbid conditions such as depressive mood state. We assessed monetary reward processing using an effort-dependent task during 3 tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated a large sample of male, right-handed, slot-machine-playing disordered gamblers (DGs; N = 80) as well as age- and smoking-matched male healthy controls (HCs; N = 89). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). DGs and HCs were divided into subgroups (“high” and “low”) based on their BDI scores. Effort-related monetary reward processing did not differ between the complete groups of HCs and DGs. Brain activation during receipt of monetary reward though revealed a significant Group × BDI interaction: DGs with higher BDI scores compared to DGs with lower BDI scores showed greater brain activity in the right insula cortex and dorsal striatum while no differences were observed for HCs with higher versus lower BDI scores. Our results suggest that effort-related aspects of monetary motivation, i.e. when monetary output is tied to performance, are not altered in DG. Additionally, our findings strengthen the need for subgroup comparisons in future investigations of the disorder as part of a personalized medicine approach

Inhibitionsdefizite bei der Alkoholkonsumstörung : Die Reliabilität von Erhebungsinstrumenten mit alkohol-assoziierten Reizen

Abstract: Background: While models of addictive behaviour stress the role of an impairment of response inhibition when drug-dependent individuals are confronted with drug-associated stimuli, results from different studies are conflicting. However, there is a considerable lack of studies that assess the reliability of tasks to assess deficits of response inhibition when drug-associated stimuli are presented. Methods: In the present paper we present results from four different studies in which either a stop-signal task (study 1), a go/no-go task (study 2/3) or a go/no-go shifting task (study 4) with alcohol-related stimuli was administered to alcohol-dependent patients or control participants and split-half and/or test-retest reliability of the different outcome measures calculated. Results: Our results suggest that the go/no-go task and the go/no-go shifting task are more reliable tasks to assess impairment of inhibition in response to alcohol-associated stimuli than to the stop-signal task. Especially the go/no-go shifting task achieves at least acceptable split-half as well as test-retest reliability indices for outcome measure related to the presentation of alcohol-associated stimuli. Nevertheless, for alcohol-dependent patients reliability indices are generally considerably lower than for control participants and thus care should be taken when these tasks are administered to alcoholdependent patients. Conclusion: Future studies are warranted to enhance our understanding of true effects and random errorZusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Aktuelle Modelle zur Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung abhängigen Verhaltens betonen die Bedeutung einer Beeinträchtigung der Inhibitionsfähigkeit, wenn abhängige Patienten mit substanz-assoziierten Reizen konfrontiert werden. Die Ergebnisse verschiedener Studien hierzu sind jedoch widersprüchlich. Dies wird unter anderem mit methodologischen Schwierigkeiten der Erhebungsinstrumente erklärt. So liegen erstaunlicherweise keine Studien zur Reliabilität von Aufgaben vor, die Inhibitionsdefizite bei Präsentation substanz-assoziierter Reize erfassen. Methode: Vor diesem Hintergrund werden in diesem Beitrag die Ergebnisse vier verschiedener Studien vorgestellt, in denen alkoholabhängigen Patienten und Kontrollprobanden entweder eine Stop-signal Aufgabe, eine Go/ no-go Aufgabe oder eine Go/no-go-shifting Aufgabe mit alkohol-assoziierten Reizen vorgegeben wurde. Berechnet wurde die Split-half und/ oder die Test-retest Reliabilität. Ergebnisse: Zusammenfassend legen die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen nahe, dass sowohl die Go/nogo als auch die Go/no-go shifting Aufgabe besser geeignet sind zur Erfassung reizspezifischer Inhibitionsdefizite als die Stop-signal Aufgabe. Insbesondere für die Go/no-go shifting Aufgabe zeigten sich sowohl hinsichtlich der Split-half als auch der Test-retest Reliabilität für auf die Präsentation alkohol-assoziierter Stimuli bezogener Ergebnismaße mindestens akzeptable Reliabilitätskennwerte. Nichtsdestotrotz ist festzustellen, dass die Reliabilitätskennwerte für alkoholabhängige Patienten im Allgemeinen deutlich niedriger waren als für Kontrollprobanden. Schlussfolgerung: Für zukünftige Studien wäre es wünschenswert aufzuklären, welche Faktoren die Leistung von Probanden in Aufgaben, in denen alkohol-assoziierte Stimuli präsentiert werden, beeinflussen, um wahre und Fehlereffekte besser einschätzen zu können

Dimensions of manic symptoms in youth:psychosocial impairment and cognitive performance in the IMAGEN sample

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that mania may be associated with superior cognitive performance. In this study, we test the hypothesis that manic symptoms in youth separate along two correlated dimensions and that a symptom constellation of high energy and cheerfulness is associated with superior cognitive performance. METHOD: We studied 1755 participants of the IMAGEN study, of average age 14.4 years (SD = 0.43), 50.7% girls. Manic symptoms were assessed using the Development and Wellbeing Assessment by interviewing parents and young people. Cognition was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children (WISC-IV) and a response inhibition task. RESULTS: Manic symptoms in youth formed two correlated dimensions: one termed exuberance, characterized by high energy and cheerfulness and one of undercontrol with distractibility, irritability and risk-taking behavior. Only the undercontrol, but not the exuberant dimension, was independently associated with measures of psychosocial impairment. In multivariate regression models, the exuberant, but not the undercontrolled, dimension was positively and significantly associated with verbal IQ by both parent- and self-report; conversely, the undercontrolled, but not the exuberant, dimension was associated with poor performance in a response inhibition task. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that manic symptoms in youth may form dimensions with distinct correlates. The results are in keeping with previous findings about superior performance associated with mania. Further research is required to study etiological differences between these symptom dimensions and their implications for clinical practice