Comparison of Parent, Peer, Psychiatric, and Cannabis Use Influences Across Stages of Offspring Alcohol Involvement: Evidence from the COGA Prospective Study

Abstract

Background All stages of development of alcohol use disorder (AUD) have not been equally studied. While initiation of drinking has been given considerable attention, other stages have not been as thoroughly investigated. It is not clear if the same factors are associated consistently across early and late transitions in AUD involvement. High risk family samples that are enriched for AUD vulnerability and transitions in AUD development offer an opportunity to examine influences across multiple stages of AUD development. Methods Data from adolescents and young adults from high risk families were used to study four transitions in AUD development –time to first drink, first drink to first problem, first drink to first diagnosis, and first problem to first diagnosis. Cox modeling was used to compare associations of parental AUD, parental separation, peer substance use, offspring ever-use of cannabis, trauma exposures and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology across transitions. Results Hazards of most transitions were elevated for those who had ever used cannabis, those who attributed substance use to their peers, those with externalizing disorders and those with parents with AUD. Many risk factors were linked to early initiation of alcohol, particularly cannabis use. Internalizing disorders were associated with later stages. Non-assaultive trauma was associated only with early initiation; assaultive trauma was not associated with any transition. . Conclusions In this large, ethnically-diverse sample of high risk youth, significant influences across transitions were fairly consistent, with externalizing disorders and cannabis ever-use elevating the likelihood of each stage, and peer and parental (and especially maternal AUD) influences linked to initiation and some later stages. Finally, in light of the increasingly permissive legal and social stances toward cannabis in the U.S., the marked elevations of all alcohol outcomes observed for cannabis use underscore the importance of studying the underpinnings of this relationship.

Reciprocal relationships between substance use and disorders and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism

“…Data were drawn from the baseline through 10-year follow-up data collection conducted with the prospective cohort of the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), which is characterized in detail elsewhere (Bucholz et al, 2016). Briefly, the parent COGA study (Begleiter et al, 1995; Reich, 1996) aimed to delineate the genetic and environmental underpinnings of alcoholism and comorbid psychiatric disorders.…”

Genome‐wide association studies of alcohol dependence, DSM‐IV criterion count and individual criteria

“…22 Neurophysiological analyses of reward-related theta ERO (event-related theta oscillation) data from the most recent assessments were carried out in a subsample of 825 COGA AA (49.9% male, 22.12 ± 5.21 years of age) and 1726 COGA EA (48.8% male, 22.26 ± 5.21 years of age) young adults (see Data S1). 22 Neurophysiological analyses of reward-related theta ERO (event-related theta oscillation) data from the most recent assessments were carried out in a subsample of 825 COGA AA (49.9% male, 22.12 ± 5.21 years of age) and 1726 COGA EA (48.8% male, 22.26 ± 5.21 years of age) young adults (see Data S1).…”

“…Our primary GWAS focused on DSM-IV AD diagnosis, a clinically validated measure of pathological drinking that is commonly used in GWAS. Lastly, to probe the potential neural correlates of the GWS variants associated with aspects of AD, we tested whether GWS variants identified in the primary (DSM-IV AD), secondary (AD criterion count) or tertiary (individual criteria) analyses were associated with two reward-related neural phenotypes, one within a subset of young individuals from COGA 22 and another within the independent Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS). In tertiary analyses, we conducted exploratory GWAS of the seven individual DSM-IV AD criteria, in order to assess which criteria were the most significant contributors to the overall findings observed for DSM-IV AD diagnosis and criterion count, and further, examine whether novel loci emerged for individual criteria.…”

Exploring the relationship between polygenic risk for cannabis use, peer cannabis use and the longitudinal course of cannabis involvement

“…first) interview and comprised the longitudinal component of COGA, were used [32]. first) interview and comprised the longitudinal component of COGA, were used [32].…”

“…For the current analyses, data from a cohort of 3618 individuals ('September 2017' data freeze) who were aged 12-26 years at their baseline (i.e. first) interview and comprised the longitudinal component of COGA, were used [32]. Briefly, participants were offspring of COGA families, with 61.6% having one parent with alcohol use disorder.…”