This five-year extension is designed to take the Iowa Adoption Studies in a new important direction--the assessment of cognitive deficits associated with illicit substance use. Evidence from 25+ years of studies on over 900 adoptees has demonstrated the importance of an antisocial pathway to substance abuse in which a biological risk for antisocial personality interacts with environmental risk factors to predict adult drug abuse. Recently this group has discovered that a biological risk for antisocial personality and substance abuse predicts lower school achievement, as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), during the early grades of our adoptees (prior to exposure to illicit drugs). We argue that this finding is important to the evaluation of the cognitive deficits associated with illicit substance use. Primarily, we argue that cognitive deficits due to antisocial tendencies, which are highly co-morbid with illicit substance use and have a biological component, must be taken into consideration. We propose to use a sizeable sample of subjects from the Iowa Adoption Studies who have just been reinterviewed. An estimated 400 individuals, all with [TBS scores, will be given a battery of neurocognitive tests in years 1-3 of this 5-year extension and will assess the following cognitive constructs: attention, executive function, memory, global functioning, verbal, non-verbal, and reaction time (single and choice). The subject's use of substances (alcohol, illicit drugs), their psychiatric history (both Axis I and Axis II), and information on physical health covering the interval from their last interview will also be obtained. Facial photos of adoptees will be taken to evaluate facial stigmata of fetal alcohol exposure (FAE). Intrauterine alcohol exposure (FAE) will be measured by facial stigmata plus birth weight and length. Physical health assessments will also be used as co-variates on cognitive outcome. Multivariate statistical models will determine analyses examining cognitive deficits attributable to illicit substance use. Our basic hypothesis is that total substance use over the lifetime is the important variable to assess as a cause of cognitive decline among substance users. However, the influence of total use must be tempered by controlling for variables such as early life cognitive functioning prior to use and other variables that are confounded with substance use and cognitive skills which includes the following: childhood ADHD, CD symptoms, adult ASPD symptoms, FAE, and health problems. Results will provide information useful to both drug prevention (by identifying new early risk factors for adult drug abuse) and treatment (by identifying cognitive deficits which decrease treatment efficiency).

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA005821-15
Application #
6930375
Study Section
Behavioral Genetics and Epidemiology Study Section (BGES)
Project Start
1989-08-01
Project End
2009-07-31
Budget Start
2005-08-01
Budget End
2006-07-31
Support Year
15
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$577,221
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Iowa
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
062761671
City
Iowa City
State
IA
Country
United States
Zip Code
52242
Paradiso, Sergio; Caspers, Kristin; Tranel, Daniel et al. (2011) Cognition and nondysphoric depression among adoptees at high risk for psychopathology. Compr Psychiatry 52:498-506
Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; Caspers, Kristin et al. (2011) DRD4 genotype moderates the impact of parental problems on unresolved loss or trauma. Attach Hum Dev 13:253-69
Caspers, Kristin M; Arndt, Stephan (2010) Birth Outcomes, Lifetime Alcohol Dependence and Cognition in Middle Adulthood. J Addict Res Ther 1:
van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; Caspers, Kristin; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J et al. (2010) Methylation matters: interaction between methylation density and serotonin transporter genotype predicts unresolved loss or trauma. Biol Psychiatry 68:405-7
Caspers, Kristin; Arndt, Stephan; Yucuis, Rebecca et al. (2010) Effects of alcohol- and cigarette-use disorders on global and specific measures of cognition in middle-age adults. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 71:192-200
Caspers, Kristin M; Paradiso, Sergio; Yucuis, Rebecca et al. (2009) Association between the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and adult unresolved attachment. Dev Psychol 45:64-76
Spinks, Ruth; McKirgan, Lowell W; Arndt, Stephan et al. (2009) IQ estimate smackdown: comparing IQ proxy measures to the WAIS-III. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 15:590-6
Caspers, Kristin M; Yucuis, Rebecca; McKirgan, Lowell M et al. (2009) Lifetime substance misuse and 5-year incidence rates of emergent health problems among middle-aged adults. J Addict Dis 28:320-31
Caspers, Kristin; Yucuis, Rebecca; Troutman, Beth et al. (2007) A sibling adoption study of adult attachment: the influence of shared environment on attachment states of mind. Attach Hum Dev 9:375-91
Spinks, Ruth; Caspers, Kristin; Langbehn, Doug et al. (2007) Co-morbid health conditions at mid-life in the Iowa adoptees. Addict Behav 32:991-1002

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