Alcohol use disorders remain one of the most undertreated mental health outcomes (Cohen, Feinn, Arias and Kranzler, 2007). The greatest burden of alcohol use is in developed countries; these nations account for half of all... [ view full abstract ]
Alcohol use disorders remain one of the most undertreated mental health outcomes (Cohen, Feinn, Arias and Kranzler, 2007). The greatest burden of alcohol use is in developed countries; these nations account for half of all alcohol-related harm. Despite the significant personal and societal consequences associated with alcohol use and problems, the prevalence of high risk drinking and DSM-IV alcohol use disorder increased between 2001 and 2013 in American adults (Grant et al., 2017). Mild alcohol use often remits without treatment. However, increasingly severe forms go undiagnosed or untreated (Connor, Haber and Hall, 2016). Accordingly, it is important to understand what factors contribute to alcohol reduction attempts. In this study, we examine genetic and environmental contributions involved in lifetime alcohol reduction attempt and test the extent to which those factors are shared with alcohol problems.
A prospective cohort sample of 2,605 (N = 2,573 complete pairs) young adult twin pairs from FinnTwin16-25 study was assessed for lifetime alcohol initiation, lifetime maximum alcohol use, and lifetime attempt to reduce or avoid alcohol. A multi-stage modeling approach, also known as the causal-common-contingent (CCC) model was used to determine the extent to which genetic and environmental influences were shared between alcohol problems and any lifetime alcohol reduction attempt while adjusting for the influence of alcohol initiation.
Approximately 88% of participants reported some lifetime alcohol use. Additionally, 40% of participants who had initiated alcohol use reported making a lifetime attempt to reduce alcohol use. Additive genetic and unique environmental effects specific to alcohol reduction significantly accounted for the total variance. Further, among participants who initiated alcohol, there was a significant association between lifetime maximum alcohol use and lifetime alcohol reduction (r = 0.39, p < 0.05). Portions of the shared environmental variance in alcohol reduction was shared with alcohol initiation (10%) and lifetime maximum alcohol use (89%). Further, small portions of the additive genetic variance in alcohol reduction was shared between lifetime maximum alcohol use (3%) and alcohol initiation (2%). Estimates of genetic and environmental influences were consistent across sex. These results emphasize the role of genetic and environmental influences shared between alcohol use and alcohol reduction attempts. These results also highlight how individualized approaches focused on both biological and environmental influences during young adulthood can improve attempts to reduce alcohol consumption.
BGA2018GenEnvContributionsEtOHReduction7312018.pdf 