Between- and within-person associations between negative life events and alcohol outcomes in adolescents with ADHD.

Abstract

Escalations in alcohol use during adolescence may be linked with exposure to negative life events, but most of this research has focused on between person associations. Moreover, adolescents with ADHD may be an especially vulnerable population, reporting more life events, alcohol involvement, and may even be more sensitive to the effects of life events on alcohol outcomes compared to those without ADHD. We tested the between and within person effects of the number and perceptions of negative life events on the development of alcohol use outcomes from age 14 to 17 in 259 adolescents with and without ADHD using generalized estimating equations. Between person differences in exposure to negative life events across adolescence, but not the perception of those events, were associated with a higher likelihood of alcohol use and drunkenness at age 17. Within person differences in life events was associated with alcohol use above and beyond that predicted by an adolescents’ typical trajectory over time. Parent and teacher-reported ADHD symptoms were associated with more negative perceptions of life events, and with greater alcohol use and drunkenness at age 17, but symptoms did not moderate the life event-alcohol association. Interventions should consider the variables that produce vulnerability to life events as well as the immediate impact of life events. That the accumulation of life events, rather than their perceived negativity, was associated with alcohol outcomes, indicates that interventions targeting the reduction of negative events, rather than emotional response, may be more protective against alcohol use in adolescence.

Role of ADHD in the Co‐Occurrence Between Heavy Alcohol Use and Depression Trajectories in Adulthood

“…Thus, experiencing additional stressful life events that are due to heavy drinking, which is a well-established phenomenon (Brennan et al 1999;Hart and Fazaa 2004), may be particularly problematic for adults with an ADHD history. Moreover, those with ADHD may perceive negative life events, such as those emanating from heavy drinking, more negatively than individuals without ADHD (King et al 2017). Because individuals who perceive life events more negatively have been shown to be at risk for depression (Kuiper et al 1986), individuals with ADHD may be particularly prone to becoming depressed as a result of negative drinking-related life events.…”

The Effects of Family Transitions on Depressive Symptoms: Differences among Young Adults with and without Childhood Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

“…Socioeconomic indicators controlled for at each wave include enrollment in school (1 = yes, 0 = no), respondent education (high school or less, some college, college degree), and whether respondents work 35 or more hours per week (1 = yes, 0 = no). Binge drinking and cigarette smoking are also controlled for, given research showing that both are significantly associated with depressive symptoms, ADHD, and family transitions (Faraone et al 2007; King et al 2017). Binge drinking is an ordinal indicator summarizing how often over the past year respondents consumed five or more alcoholic beverages in one sitting (ranging from 0 [no binge drinking] to 6 [binge drinking daily or nearly every day]).…”

“…For example, in adulthood ADHD-related symptoms are associated with making riskier decisions (Matthies, Philipsen, and Svaldi 2012), more regret over past decisions (Schepman et al 2012), and more harmful coping strategies such as avoidance or detachment to manage problems (Young 2005). These behavioral impairments are broadly implicated in associations of ADHD in adulthood with a higher risk for suicide (Biederman et al 2008; Ljung et al 2014), more substance use (Faraone et al 2007; King, Boyd, and Thorsen 2017), poorer employment outcomes (Fletcher 2014), lower educational attainment and income (Barkley et al 2006; Biederman et al 2006), and more criminal activity (Fletcher and Wolfe 2009). In addition, ADHD is associated with a greater total number of negative life events, even after controlling for the effects of comorbid mental health issues (Garcia et al 2012).…”

Risk of Alcohol Abuse in Humans with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

“…After review, 49 articles were included based on their significance to ADHD and its association with alcohol abuse. Table 1 lists various studies indicating an interdependence between the risk of alcohol use and ADHD patients [4,8,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Several studies have reported that ADHD and alcohol abuse have a direct positive correlation [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41].…”