BACKGROUND: The period of college represents a particularly risky developmental stage with regard to alcohol use, as college students engage in more risky drinking behaviors than their noncollege peers, and such problematic alcohol use is associated with far-reaching negative consequences. Existing findings from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) indicate that alcohol consumption has a complex polygenic etiology. Currently, there is a lack of studies examining genetic risk for alcohol consumption using polygenic risk scores (PRS) in college samples. In this study, we examined whether alcohol-specific and risky behavior-related PRS were longitudinally associated with alcohol consumption among college students and whether this effect might be partially mediated by impulsivity domains. METHODS: The sample included n = 2,385 European ancestry (EA) and n = 1,153 African ancestry (AA) college students assessed over the course of 4 years. To indicate genetic risk, 2 PRS were created based on recent large-scale GWAS: alcohol consumption (Liu et al., 2019) -drinks per week (DPW)-PRS and risky behaviors (Linnér et al., 2019) -RISK-PRS. The main outcome was alcohol consumption, measured across 4 waves of follow-up data. The UPPS-P impulsivity subscales were examined as mediators of the genetic effect on alcohol consumption. RESULTS: The results from structural equation modeling showed that among EA students, both DPW-PRS and RISK-PRS had significant positive effects on alcohol consumption above and beyond UPPS dimensions and control variables. RISK-PRS explained larger portion of variance in alcohol consumption than DPW-PRS. RISK-PRS showed a significant indirect effect on alcohol consumption through sensation seeking and lack of perseverance; no significant indirect effect of DPW-PRS was found. No significant association of either PRS or alcohol consumption was found for AA participants. CONCLUSIONS: The current results found that PRS related to more broadly defined risky behaviors predicted alcohol consumption across college years and that this association was partially mediated via dimensions of impulsivity.
BACKGROUND: The period of college represents a particularly risky developmental stage with regard to alcohol use, as college students engage in more risky drinking behaviors than their noncollege peers, and such problematic alcohol use is associated with far-reaching negative consequences. Existing findings from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) indicate that alcohol consumption has a complex polygenic etiology. Currently, there is a lack of studies examining genetic risk for alcohol consumption using polygenic risk scores (PRS) in college samples. In this study, we examined whether alcohol-specific and risky behavior-related PRS were longitudinally associated with alcohol consumption among college students and whether this effect might be partially mediated by impulsivity domains. METHODS: The sample included n = 2,385 European ancestry (EA) and n = 1,153 African ancestry (AA) college students assessed over the course of 4 years. To indicate genetic risk, 2 PRS were created based on recent large-scale GWAS: alcohol consumption (Liu et al., 2019) -drinks per week (DPW)-PRS and risky behaviors (Linnér et al., 2019) -RISK-PRS. The main outcome was alcohol consumption, measured across 4 waves of follow-up data. The UPPS-P impulsivity subscales were examined as mediators of the genetic effect on alcohol consumption. RESULTS: The results from structural equation modeling showed that among EA students, both DPW-PRS and RISK-PRS had significant positive effects on alcohol consumption above and beyond UPPS dimensions and control variables. RISK-PRS explained larger portion of variance in alcohol consumption than DPW-PRS. RISK-PRS showed a significant indirect effect on alcohol consumption through sensation seeking and lack of perseverance; no significant indirect effect of DPW-PRS was found. No significant association of either PRS or alcohol consumption was found for AA participants. CONCLUSIONS: The current results found that PRS related to more broadly defined risky behaviors predicted alcohol consumption across college years and that this association was partially mediated via dimensions of impulsivity.
Authors: Roseann E Peterson; Alexis C Edwards; Silviu-Alin Bacanu; Danielle M Dick; Kenneth S Kendler; Bradley T Webb Journal: Am J Addict Date: 2017-07-17
Authors: Paul A Harris; Robert Taylor; Robert Thielke; Jonathon Payne; Nathaniel Gonzalez; Jose G Conde Journal: J Biomed Inform Date: 2008-09-30 Impact factor: 6.317
Authors: Sandra Sanchez-Roige; Pierre Fontanillas; Sarah L Elson; Joshua C Gray; Harriet de Wit; James MacKillop; Abraham A Palmer Journal: J Neurosci Date: 2019-02-04 Impact factor: 6.167
Authors: Danielle M Dick; Jacquelyn L Meyers; Richard J Rose; Jaakko Kaprio; Kenneth S Kendler Journal: Alcohol Clin Exp Res Date: 2011-06-20 Impact factor: 3.455
Authors: Danielle M Dick; Laura Bierut; Anthony Hinrichs; Louis Fox; Kathleen K Bucholz; John Kramer; Samuel Kuperman; Victor Hesselbrock; Marc Schuckit; Laura Almasy; Jay Tischfield; Bernice Porjesz; Henri Begleiter; John Nurnberger; Xiaoling Xuei; Howard J Edenberg; Tatiana Foroud Journal: Behav Genet Date: 2006-03-24 Impact factor: 2.805
Authors: Joseph D Deak; D Angus Clark; Mengzhen Liu; Jonathan D Schaefer; Seon Kyeong Jang; C Emily Durbin; William G Iacono; Matt McGue; Scott Vrieze; Brian M Hicks Journal: Addiction Date: 2021-10-24 Impact factor: 6.526
Authors: Angela M Haeny; Ralitza Gueorguieva; Asti Jackson; Meghan E Morean; Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin; Kelly S DeMartini; Godfrey D Pearlson; Alan Anticevic; John H Krystal; Stephanie S O'Malley Journal: Psychol Addict Behav Date: 2021-06-10
Authors: John Kramer; Danielle M Dick; Andrea King; Lara A Ray; Kenneth J Sher; Ashley Vena; Leandro F Vendruscolo; Laura Acion Journal: Alcohol Alcohol Date: 2020-10-20 Impact factor: 2.826