Personality, Social Factors, Brain Functioning, Familial Risk, and Trajectories of Alcohol Misuse in Adolescence.

Importance: The development of an alcohol use disorder in adolescence is associated with increased risk of future alcohol dependence. The differential associations of risk factors with alcohol use over the course of 8 years are important for preventive measures. Objective: To determine the differential associations of risk-taking aspects of personality, social factors, brain functioning, and familial risk with hazardous alcohol use in adolescents over the course of 8 years. Design, Setting, and Participants: The IMAGEN multicenter longitudinal cohort study included adolescents recruited from European schools in Germany, the UK, France, and Ireland from January 2008 to January 2019. Eligible participants included those with available neuropsychological, self-report, imaging, and genetic data at baseline. Adolescents who were ineligible for magnetic resonance imaging or had serious medical conditions were excluded. Data analysis was conducted from July 2021 to September 2022. Exposure: Personality testing, psychosocial factors, brain functioning, and familial risk of alcohol misuse. Main Outcome and Measures: Hazardous alcohol use as measured with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores, a main planned outcome of the IMAGEN study. Alcohol misuse trajectories at ages 14, 16, 19, and 22 years were modeled using latent growth curve models. Results: A total of 2240 adolescents (1110 female [49.6%] and 1130 male [50.4%]) were included in the study. There was a significant negative association of psychosocial resources (ß = -0.29; SE = 0.03; P < .001) with the general risk of alcohol misuse as well as a significant positive association of the risk-taking aspects of personality with the intercept (ß = 0.19; SE = 0.04; P < .001). Furthermore, there were significant positive associations of the social domain (ß = 0.13; SE = 0.02; P < .001) and the personality domain (ß = 0.07; SE = 0.02; P < .001) with trajectories of alcohol misuse development over time (slope). Family history of substance misuse was negatively associated with general risk of alcohol misuse (ß = -0.04; SE = 0.02; P = .045) and its development over time (ß = -0.03; SE = 0.01; P = .01). Brain functioning showed no significant association with intercept or slope of alcohol misuse in the model. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this cohort study suggest known risk factors of adolescent drinking may contribute differentially to future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions.

Mood and anxiety disorders within the Research Domain Criteria framework of Positive and Negative Valence Systems: a scoping review.

Introduction: While a growing body of research is adopting Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)-related methods and constructs, there is still a lack of comprehensive reviews on the state of published research on Positive Valence Systems (PVS) and Negative Valence Systems (NVS) in mood and anxiety disorders consistent with the RDoC framework. Methods: Five electronic databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed publications covering research on "positive valence" and "negative valence" as well as "valence," "affect," and "emotion" for individuals with symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders. Data was extracted with a focus on disorder, domain, (sub-) constructs, units of analysis, key results, and study design. Findings are presented along four sections, distinguishing between primary articles and reviews each for PVS, NVS, and cross-domain PVS and NVS. Results: A total of 231 abstracts were identified, and 43 met the inclusion criteria for this scoping review. Seventeen publications addressed research on PVS, seventeen on NVS, and nine covered cross-domain research on PVS and NVS. Psychological constructs were typically examined across different units of analysis, with the majority of publications incorporating two or more measures. Molecular, genetic, and physiological aspects were mainly investigated via review articles, primary articles focused on self-report, behavioral, and, to a lesser extent, physiological measures. Conclusions: This present scoping review shows that mood and anxiety disorders were actively studied using a range of genetic, molecular, neuronal, physiological, behavioral, and self-report measures within the RDoC PVS and NVS. Results highlight the essential role of specific cortical frontal brain structures and of subcortical limbic structures in impaired emotional processing in mood and anxiety disorders. Findings also indicate overall limited research on NVS in bipolar disorders and PVS in anxiety disorders, a majority of self-report studies, and predominantly observational studies. Future research is needed to develop more RDoC-consistent advancements and intervention studies targeting neuroscience-driven PVS and NVS constructs.