Developmental Etiologies of Alcohol Use and Their Relations to Parent and Peer Influences Over Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A Genetically Informed Approach

Abstract

Background Distinct changes in alcohol use etiologies occur during adolescence and young adulthood. Additionally, measured environments known to influence alcohol use such as peers and parenting practice can interact or be associated with this genetic influence. However, change in genetic and environmental influence over age, as well as how associations with measured environments change over age, is understudied. Methods The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) sibling subsample was used to examine data-driven biometric models of alcohol use over ages 13 to 27. Associations between friends’ drinking, parental autonomy granting, and maternal closeness were also examined. Results The best fitting model included a five-factor model consisting of early (age 13–20) and overall (age 13–27) additive genetic and unique environmental factors, as well as one overall common environment factor. The overall additive genetic factor and the early unique environment factor explained the preponderance of mean differences in the alcohol use over this portion of the lifespan. The most important factors explaining variance attributed to alcohol use changed over age. Additionally, friend use had the strongest associations with genetic and environmental factors at all ages, while parenting practices had almost no associations at any age. Conclusion These results supplement previous studies indicating changes in genetic and environmental influence in alcohol use over adolescence and adulthood. However, prior research suggesting that constraining exogenous predictors of genetic and environmental factors to have effects of the same magnitude across age overlooks the differential role of factors associated with alcohol use during adolescence. Consonant with previous research, friend use appears to have a more pervasive influence on alcohol use than parental influence during this age. Interventions and prevention programs geared toward reducing alcohol use in younger populations may benefit from focus on peer influence.

Neural sensitivity to conflicting attitudes supports greater conformity toward positive over negative influence in early adolescence

“…Exploratory analyses comparing parent to peer conformity revealed adolescents were equally likely to conform to their parents and peers when both endorsed attitudes that conflicted with the adolescents’ attitudes (i.e., on Mutual Conflict trials). These results challenge prior research showing that one source of influence typically outweighs the other in adolescence ( Biddle et al, 1980 ; Deutsch et al, 2017 ; Utech and Hoving, 1969 ) and suggest that, even when they endorse opposing attitudes, parents and peers exert a similar influence on attitudes toward everyday behaviors in early adolescence. Indiscriminate patterns of conformity toward peers and parents may have stemmed from the increased difficulty of resolving conflict between their own attitudes and those of multiple sources of influence.…”

High‐Intensity Drinking in Adult Australian Twins

“…Although one of the goals of this study was to study HID in an understudied segment of the population, the generalizability of the findings might be limited by focusing on working‐age adults. In particular, there is evidence from twin studies of alcohol involvement that the contribution of genetic and common environmental influences change across development (e.g., Deutsch, Wood, and Slutske, ; Kendler et al, , ). In particular, the proportions of variation in HID propensity due to common environmental influences would likely be higher among adolescents and college‐aged young adults than in the present study.…”

The association between early life mental health and alcohol use behaviours in adulthood: A systematic review

“…The stage when mental health problems develop or the duration of the problems may present different associations with later alcohol use [31]. Also, drinking behaviours during adolescence are largely influenced by social context (mainly peers and parents) [32][33][34][35][36][37], while drinking patterns in adulthood may be more established [38]. Robust sex differences in the prevalence of both mental health problems and alcohol use behaviours were found [39][40][41][42], however, how sex may play a role in the association between mental health and alcohol use is yet unclear, and how sex is treated in the analysis (whether male and female subjects are analysed separately, or sex is adjusted for or added as an interaction term with mental health problems) varies across studies.…”