Several studies have shown a relationship between age of onset to begin drinking and alcohol dependence outcome. Individuals who begin to drink before the age of 15 are more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those starting after the age of 20a. Age at onset to begin drinking may be symptomatic of an underlying disinhibitory trait because the presence of Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder at age 11 predicts use of alcohol by age 14b. In fact we find that the amplitude of the P300 component of the event-related potential, a measure of disinhibition, at 9 years of age, predicts substance use disorder outcome by the age of 20c.
Future Goals
We plan to further determine which of our child/adolescent measures that we have collected are most associated with developing a substance use disorder with further follow up of our now young adult former participants. These findings can then be applied to prevention efforts for other youth and future generations.
We believe that emotion regulation is a major factor in whether some individuals develop a substance disorder and others do not. There is a need to identify how emotion regulation is related to risk and resilience for substance use disorder. Sophisticated neuroimaging techniques have been developed that can measure this capacity.
We would like to use state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques to discover how familial risk factors influence neural connectivity and brain white matter integrity in our young adult participants for whom we now are beginning to have data on clinical outcomes.
We hope to obtain neuroimaging measures that can help us identify which children might benefit from specific interventions designed to deter their involvement with substances. Here, we believe strategies such as mindfulness training and assistance in improved decision-making could, in turn, be used as an early intervention model in at risk youth.
We plan to continue to study epigenetic changes brought about by use of alcohol and cigarettes. Specifically, we will examine changes in DNA methylation associated with lifetime use and examine their relationship to the development of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.
a Grant BF, Dawson DA. Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. J Subst Abuse 9:103-110, 1997.
b McGue M, Iacono WG, Legrand LN, Malone S, Elkins I. Origins and consequences of age at first drink. I. Associations with substance-use disorders, disinhibitory behavior and psychopathology, and P3 amplitude. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 25:1156-1165, 2001.
c Hill SY, Steinhauer SR, Locke-Wellman J, Ulrich R. Childhood risk factors for young adult substance dependence outcome in offspring from multiplex alcohol dependence families: a prospective study. Biol Psychiatry 66:750-757, 2009. Read Article