Gene-by-Environment Interactions on Alcohol Use Among Asian American College Freshmen

Abstract

Among northeast Asians, the variant aldehyde dehydrogenase allele, ALDH2*2 (rs671, A/G, minor/major), has been inversely associated with alcohol dependence. The strength of the associations between ALDH2*2 and drinking behaviors depends on the developmental stage, the phenotype studied, and other moderating variables. This study examined ALDH2 gene status as a moderator of the associations between parental drinking, peer drinking, and acculturation with alcohol use among 222 Chinese American and Korean American college freshmen. Method: Negative binomial regressions were used to test the main and interactive effects of ALDH2 with contextual factors on alcohol frequency (drinking days) and quantity (drinks per drinking day) in the past 3 months. Results: ALDH2*2 was associated with more subjective flushing symptoms and longer length of flushing but was unrelated to both alcohol frequency and quantity. Peer drinking was positively associated with both alcohol frequency and quantity, but neither was moderated by ALDH2. We observed a nonsignificant trend for the interaction between parental drinking and ALDH2 on alcohol frequency, where parental drinking was positively associated with alcohol frequency only among participants with ALDH2*2. We found a significant interaction between acculturation and ALDH2 on alcohol frequency, where acculturation was positively associated with alcohol frequency only among those with ALDH2*2. Exploratory analyses stratified by Asian ethnic subgroup indicated that this interaction was driven primarily by the Korean subsample. Conclusions: Parental drinking and acculturation may facilitate more frequent drinking among those who have more intense reactions to alcohol (i.e., those with ALDH2*2) during the transition from high school to college.

Longitudinal effects and environmental moderation of ALDH2 and ADH1B gene variants on substance use from age 14 to 40

“…There was no evidence for significant interactions of these effects with adoptee genotype. This is generally consistent with prior work finding that close peer alcohol use is associated with alcohol use in those with and without ALDH2*2 (Luk et al, 2017;O'Shea et al, 2017) though we do not find evidence that the associations differ in magnitude by ALDH2 status as has been identified elsewhere (O'Shea et al, 2017). Our results are generally inconsistent, however, with the existing literature finding evidence for parental and sibling effects in both adoptive and nonadoptive families (Irons et al, 2007(Irons et al, , 2012McGue et al, 2014;Samek et al, 2018;Saunders et al, 2016).…”

“…Environmental influences within families and amongst peers may also moderate the protective effects of ALDH2*2 and ADH1B*2. Previous research has found that parent, sibling, and peer alcohol consumption patterns predict continued use in those with the ALDH2 deficiency (Irons et al, 2007(Irons et al, , 2012Luk et al, 2017;O'Shea et al, 2017).…”

Integrating a Quasi‐experimental Design to Study Gene‐by‐Environment Interaction on Alcohol Use

“…This explanation highlights the need for longitudinal research that models changes in alcohol use and tracks possible progression into problematic use over time. This finding also points to the importance of considering multiple sources of contextual influences (e.g., parental, peer, and cultural) and testing gene‐by‐acculturation interactions on alcohol use among racial and ethnic minority students (Luk et al., ). In light of increased evidence supporting Asian ethnic subgroup differences in drinking behaviors (Kane et al., ), it would also be important to consider if the observed increase in alcohol use was driven by particular Asian subgroups such as Filipino, Korean, or Japanese college students.…”