Similarities in drinking behavior of twin's friends: moderation of heritability of alcohol use

Previous research has indicated that friends' drinking may influence alcohol use in adolescents and young adults. We explored whether similarities in the drinking behavior of friends of twins influence the genetic architecture of alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood. Survey data from The Netherlands Twin Register were available for 1,526 twin pairs aged 16-25 years. We categorized the twin pairs as concordant (both report similar alcohol use in their friends) or discordant for the alcohol use of their friends. Genetic moderator models were tested by carrying out multi-group analyzes in Mplus. Findings showed a significant moderation effect. Genetic factors were more and common environment less important in the explanation of variation in alcohol use in twins discordant for alcohol use of friends than in twins concordant for alcohol use of friend

Predictors of problem drinking in adolescence and young adulthood. A longitudinal twin-family study

We examined drinking behavior of parents, siblings, and friends of twins as predictors of adolescent and young adult problem drinking over a period of 2 and a period of 7 years. Data of 12 to 30-year-old twins and their family members from the Netherlands Twin Register were analyzed. Problem drinking in twins was assessed in 1995 and 2000 and was defined based on the CAGE and amount of drinking. Data on alcohol use of parents, siblings and friends were collected in 1993. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the short-term (1993-1995; n = 2,994) and the long-term longitudinal predictors (1993-2000; n = 1,796) of problem drinking. Age, sex and own alcohol use in 1993 explained 25% of the variance in adolescent and young adult problem drinking. Moreover, adolescents and young adults with fathers who drank frequently and with a large numbers of drinking friends, were at the highest risk for problem drinking 2 years later. Over a period of 7 years the number of drinking friends was no longer a risk factor, but few times a week or daily alcohol use of fathers remained a risk factor for later problem drinking. Drinking behavior of mother and siblings did not substantially predict problem drinking. Sex and age did not moderate these effect

Treatment of substance abuse in dual diagnosis

Interventions for substance use–related problems are limited for individuals with intellectual disability (ID). This is problematic, as the lack of interventions can lead to substance use initiation, progression of substance use into substance use disorder, poorer outcomes of treatment, and stigmatization of individuals with dual diagnosis. Additionally, staff who work with individuals with ID and addiction treatment lack resources to effectively help substance use in individuals with ID. Nevertheless, there has been an increase in studies assessing the feasibility and outcomes of interventions for substance use and abuse in individuals with ID. This chapter reviews psychological and pharmacological interventions for individuals with dual diagnosis of substance abuse and ID

Delinquent Behavior of Dutch Rural Adolescents

This article compares Dutch rural and non-rural adolescents’ delinquent behavior and examines two social correlates of rural delinquency: communal social control and traditional rural culture. The analyses are based on cross-sectional data, containing 3,797 participants aged 13–18 (48.7% females). The analyses show that rural adolescents are only slightly less likely to engage in delinquent behavior. Furthermore, while rural adolescents are exposed more often to communal social control, this does not substantially reduce the likelihood that they engage in delinquent behavior. Concerning rural culture, marked differences appeared between rural and non-rural adolescents. First, alcohol use and the frequency of visiting pubs were more related to rural adolescents’ engagement in delinquent behavior. Second, the gender gap in delinquency is larger among rural adolescents: whereas rural boys did not differ significantly from non-rural boys, rural girls were significantly less likely to engage in delinquent behavior than non-rural girls. However, the magnitude of the effects of most indicators was rather low. To better account for the variety of rural spaces and cultures, it is recommended that future research into antisocial and criminal behavior of rural adolescents should adopt alternative measurements of rurality, instead of using an indicator of population density only

Changes in the socio-demographic patterning of late adolescent health risk behaviours during the 1990s: analysis of two West of Scotland cohort studies

Background: Substance use and sexual risk behaviour affect young people's current and future health and wellbeing in many high-income countries. Our understanding of time-trends in adolescent health-risk behaviour is largely based on routinely collected survey data in school-aged adolescents (aged 15 years or less). Less is known about changes in these behaviours among older adolescents. Methods: We compared two cohorts from the same geographical area (West of Scotland), surveyed in 1990 and 2003, to: describe time-trends in measures of smoking, drinking, illicit drug use, early sexual initiation, number of opposite sex sexual partners and experience of pregnancy at age 18-19 years, both overall and stratified by gender and socioeconomic status (SES); and examine the effect of time-trends on the patterning of behaviours by gender and SES. Our analyses adjust for slight between-cohort age differences since age was positively associated with illicit drug use and pregnancy. Results: Rates of drinking, illicit drug use, early sexual initiation and experience of greater numbers of sexual partners all increased significantly between 1990 and 2003, especially among females, leading to attenuation and, for early sexual initiation, elimination, of gender differences. Most rates increased to a similar extent regardless of SES. However, rates of current smoking decreased only among those from higher SES groups. In addition, increases in 'cannabis-only' were greater among higher SES groups while use of illicit drugs other than cannabis increased more in lower SES groups. Conclusion: Marked increases in female substance use and sexual risk behaviours have implications for the long-term health and wellbeing of young women. More effective preventive measures are needed to reduce risk behaviour uptake throughout adolescence and into early adulthood. Public health strategies should reflect both the widespread prevalence of risk behaviour in young people as well as the particular vulnerability to certain risk behaviours among those from lower SES groups

Stable Genetic Effects on Symptoms of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence from Adolescence into Early Adulthood

Relatively little is known about how genetic influences on alcohol abuse and dependence (AAD) change with age. We examined the change in influence of genetic and environmental factors which explain symptoms of AAD from adolescence into early adulthood. Symptoms of AAD were assessed using the four AAD screening questions of the CAGE inventory. Data were obtained up to six times by self-report questionnaires for 8,398 twins from the Netherlands Twin Register aged between 15 and 32 years. Longitudinal genetic simplex modeling was performed with Mx. Results showed that shared environmental influences were present for age 15–17 (57%) and age 18–20 (18%). Unique environmental influences gained importance over time, contributing 15% of the variance at age 15–17 and 48% at age 30–32. At younger ages, unique environmental influences were largely age-specific, while at later ages, age-specific influences became less important. Genetic influences on AAD symptoms over age could be accounted for by one factor, with the relative influence of this factor differing across ages. Genetic influences increased from 28% at age 15–17 to 58% at age 21–23 and remained high in magnitude thereafter. These results are in line with a developmentally stable hypothesis that predicts that a single set of genetic risk factors acts on symptoms of AAD from adolescence into young adulthood

Baixa percepção de risco entre adolescentes espanhóis em relação ao consumo de álcool

Según los estudios recientes, los adolescentes españoles muestran una baja percepción del riesgo asociado al consumo de alcohol. El objetivo de la presente investigación es analizar los factores que favorecen esta baja percepción a partir de la opinión de un grupo de 32 profesionales/expertos en adolescencia, familia, escuela, medios de comunicación y políticas locales. Se utilizó una metodología cualitativa, fundamentada en Grounded Theory, a partir de la información obtenida mediante 5 grupos de discusión guiados por entrevistas semiestructuradas. Se identificaron 12 factores o subcategorías agrupados en 4 categorías generales: riesgo a corto plazo, inmediatez y percepción de invulnerabilidad (categoría ¿pensamiento adolescente¿); concepción benévola del alcohol, normalización del consumo y binomio alcohol-diversión (categoría ¿normas sociales¿); consumo habitual en los padres, inconsistencia verbal-no verbal en el modelado parental, consumo sin riesgo en los medios, consumo con resultados positivos en los medios (categoría ¿modelos sociales¿); excesivo contenido sanitario, riesgo a largo plazo (categoría ¿discurso preventivo¿). Tras discutir los resultados en el contexto de la literatura científica actual, se realizan varias propuestas con el objetivo de aumentar la percepción del riesgo en los adolescentes: incidir con mayor fuerza en contenidos sobre los riesgos a corto plazo del alcohol; orientar las estrategias educativas dirigidas al adolescente, también hacia los agentes de socialización, especialmente los padres; incidir en políticas centradas en la sustancia y en reducir la oferta.According to recent studies, Spanish adolescents show low perception of risk in alcohol consumption. The current study aims to analyze the factors that favor this low perception based on the opinion of a group of 32 professional experts on adolescence, family, school, mass media, and local policies. A qualitative methodology was used, based on Grounded Theory, using information from 5 focus groups guided by semi-structured interviews. Twelve factors or subcategories were identified, grouped in 4 general categories: short-term risk, immediacy, and perception of invulnerability (¿adolescent thinking¿ category); benevolent view of alcohol, normalization of consumption, and alcohol-entertainment binomial (¿social norms¿ category); parents¿ habitual consumption, verbal/non-verbal inconsistency in parental model, risk-free consumption depicted in the mass media, consumption with positive results in the media (¿social models¿ category); and excessive health content, long-term risk (¿preventive discourse¿ category). After discussing the results in the context of the current scientific literature, the article offers various proposals for increasing risk perception in adolescents: stronger impact of contents on short-term risks of alcohol; educational strategies targeted to adolescents to include agents of socialization, especially parents; and policies centered on the substance and reduction of supply.De acordo com estudos recentes, os adolescentes espanhóis mostram baixa percepção de risco em relação ao consumo de álcool. O estudo tem como objetivo analisar os fatores associados com a baixa percepção de risco, com base nas opiniões de um grupo de 32 especialistas em adolescência, família, escola, mídia e políticas locais. Foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa, baseada na Teoria Fundamentada, usando informações de cinco grupos focais orientados por entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Foram identificados 12 fatores ou subcategorias, agrupados em quatro categorias gerais: risco no curto prazo, imediatismo e percepção de invulnerabilidade (categoria de ¿pensamento adolescente¿); visão benevolente em relação ao álcool, normalização do consumo e binômio álcool-entretenimento (categoria de ¿normas sociais¿); consumo habitual pelos pais, inconsistência na comunicação verbal versus não verbal no modelo representado pelos pais, consumo isento de risco retratado pela mídia, consumo com resultados positivos na mídia (categoria de ¿modelos sociais¿) e excesso de conteúdo relacionado à saúde, risco no longo prazo (categoria de ¿discurso preventivo¿). Depois de discutir os resultados no contexto da literatura científica atual, o artigo oferece várias propostas para aumentar a percepção de risco entre os adolescentes: impacto mais forte de conteúdos sobre os riscos do álcool no curto prazo; estratégias educativas orientadas aos adolescentes para incluir os agentes da socialização, especialmente os pais, além de políticas centradas na substância e na redução da oferta.Departamento de Educación y Psicología SocialVersión del edito

The effectiveness of a web-based brief alcohol intervention in reducing heavy drinking among adolescents aged 15 to 20 years with a low educational background: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Contains fulltext : 102984.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Background: The serious negative health consequences of heavy drinking among adolescents is cause for concern, especially among adolescents aged 15 to 20 years with a low educational background. In the Netherlands, there is a lack of alcohol prevention programs directed to the drinking patterns of this specific target group. The study described in this protocol will test the effectiveness of a web-based brief alcohol intervention that aims to reduce alcohol use among heavy drinking adolescents aged 15 to 20 years with a low educational background. Methods/design: The effectiveness of the What Do You Drink (WDYD) web-based brief alcohol intervention will be tested among 750 low-educated, heavy drinking adolescents. It will use a two-arm parallel group cluster randomized controlled trial. Classes of adolescents from educational institutions will be randomly assigned to either the experimental (n = 375: web-based brief alcohol intervention) or control condition (n = 375: no intervention). Primary outcomes measures will be: 1) the percentage of participants who drink within the normative limits of the Dutch National Health Council for low-risk drinking, 2) reductions in mean weekly alcohol consumption, and 3) frequency of binge drinking. The secondary outcome measures include the alcohol-related cognitions, attitudes, self-efficacy, and subjective norms, which will be measured at baseline and at one and six months after the intervention. Discussion: This study protocol presents the study design of a two-arm parallel-group randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the WDYD web-based brief alcohol intervention. We hypothesized a reduction in mean weekly alcohol consumption and in the frequency of binge drinking in the experimental condition, resulting from the web-based brief alcohol intervention, compared to the control condition.7 p

Friendship context matters: Examining the domain specificity of alcohol and depression socialization among adolescents

Contains fulltext : 102553.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Driven by existing socialization theories, this study describes specific friendship contexts in which peer influence of alcohol misuse and depressive symptoms occurs. In the fall and spring of the school year, surveys were administered to 704 Italian adolescents (53 % male, M (age) = 15.53) enrolled in Grades 9, 10 and 11. Different friendship contexts were distinguished based on two dimensions referring to the level (i.e., best friendships and friendship networks) and reciprocity (i.e., unilateral and reciprocal) of the relationships. Social network and dyadic analyses were applied in a complementary manner to estimate peer socialization effects across the different friendship contexts. Results showed that within friendship networks both male and female adolescents' alcohol misuse was affected by friends' alcohol misuse, regardless of whether the relationship was reciprocated or not. Conversely, peer socialization of depressive symptoms only emerged within very best friendship dyads of female adolescents. Findings suggest that the effects of peer socialization depend on the friendship context and specific types of behaviors. The theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed.17 p