Examining interactions between genetic risk for alcohol problems, peer deviance, and interpersonal traumatic events on trajectories of alcohol use disorder symptoms among African American college students

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated that genetic and environmental factors interact to influence alcohol problems. Yet prior research has primarily focused on samples of European descent and little is known about gene-environment interactions in relation to alcohol problems in non-European populations. In this study, we examined whether and how genetic risk for alcohol problems and peer deviance and interpersonal traumatic events independently and interactively influence trajectories of alcohol use disorder symptoms in a sample of African American students across the college years (N = 1,119; Mage = 18.44 years). Data were drawn from the Spit for Science study where participants completed multiple online surveys throughout college and provided a saliva sample for genotyping. Multilevel growth curve analyses indicated that alcohol dependence genome-wide polygenic risk scores did not predict trajectory of alcohol use disorder symptoms, while family history of alcohol problems was associated with alcohol use disorder symptoms at the start of college but not with the rate of change in symptoms over time. Peer deviance and interpersonal traumatic events were associated with more alcohol use disorder symptoms across college years. Neither alcohol dependence genome-wide polygenic risk scores nor family history of alcohol problems moderated the effects of these environmental risk factors on alcohol use disorder symptoms. Our findings indicated that peer deviance and experience of interpersonal traumatic events are salient risk factors that elevate risk for alcohol problems among African American college students. Family history of alcohol problems could be a useful indicator of genetic risk for alcohol problems. Gene identification efforts with much larger samples of African descent are needed to better characterize genetic risk for alcohol use disorders, in order to better understand gene-environment interaction processes in this understudied population.

Effects of Polygenic Risk and Perceived Friends’ Drinking and Disruptive Behavior on Development of Alcohol Use Across Adolescence

“…This theoretically driven investigation tested peer environments modulating polygenic risks within a large prospective sample, controlling for key confounds (i.e., Sex × Friend Drinking; Parental Heavy Drinking × Friend Drinking) that ultimately explained adolescent drinking rather than G×E specifically. The current investigation replicates nonsignificant developmental G×E findings involving polygenic risks from two smaller samples (Li et al, 2017;Su et al, 2018), yet contradicts a recent twin study reporting stronger genetic risks in the presence of greater friend drinking from ages 13 to 17 (Zheng et al, 2019). Such discrepant findings may reflect generally larger heritability estimates among twin than polygenic risk studies (see Génin, 2020).…”

“…However, two additional investigations with polygenic risk scores of traitassociated variants yielded nonsignificant findings. Polygenic risk scores of alcohol dependence did not moderate associations of perceived friend substance use on heavy episodic drinking from adolescence into emerging adulthood (n = 412; Li et al, 2017) or associations of perceived friend de-viant behavior on alcohol use disorder symptom trajectories across college (n = 1,119; Su et al, 2018).…”

Cultural development and psychopathology

“…Su, Kuo, Meyers, Guy, and Dick (2018) examined if polygenic risk for alcohol problems, peer deviance, and interpersonal trauma influenced trajectories of alcohol use disorder symptoms in a sample of 1,119 African American students across the college years. Polygenic risk did not predict trajectory of alcohol use.…”

Polygenic Scores Predict the Development of Alcohol and Nicotine Use Problems from Adolescence through Young Adulthood

“…Evidence for the predictive utility of alcohol-related PGS has been mixed. One study found that a PGS for AUD was associated with levels of alcohol use in males at age 15.5 and greater increases of alcohol use at age 21.5 [16], while other studies predicting alcohol use in college student drinkers over time have returned both positive [17] and null results [18]. Most prior studies were limited by smaller GWAS discovery samples relative to the much larger recent GWAS consortia of alcohol and nicotine use.…”