The long-term goal of the proposed study is to better understand the determinants and consequences of college drinking. High prevalence of binge drinking and alcohol-related problems in college students has been well documented in a number of epidemiological studies. However, critical limitations of many studies such as cross-sectional assessment, lack of matched non-college peers, and failure to control for genetic and family background factors precluded the testing of causal models. The proposed study will addressthese limitations by implementing a longitudinal, prospective, and genetically informative design, in which the first assessment takes place prior to college, and family-based non-collegiate controls (twins and siblings) are used. Using cohort-sequential sampling, three cohorts of twins born in 1984-987 will be ascertained from birth records (n=2300), and assessed using telephone diagnostic interviews and a mailed questionnaire. The first assessment will take place in the senior high school year. Follow-up assessments of both collegiate and non-collegiate twins will be conducted in the first and fourth years post-high school, with brief assessments in years 2 and 3. In addition, 516 siblings of twins in their high school and college years will be ascertained. Assessments will include alcohol consumption measures, DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence symptoms, and risk factors such as family history of alcoholism, behavioral undercontrol, and personality traits.
Specific aims of the study are: (1) to assess prospectively the effects of transition to college and, alternatively, entry into workforce on changes in drinking behavior; (2) to determine, using family-based non-collegiate controls, the relative role of dispositional (pre-existing) factors and high-risk college environment in the etiology of problem drinking in college students; (3) to test, using longitudinal genetic design, competing models of causal relationships between genetic factors, family environment, personality, psychopathology, pre-college alcohol involvement, and college drinking and alcohol-related problems. Data analysis will use structural equation modeling techniques and emphasize the testing of causal models such as mediational and risk-modifier models. This study will provide a greater understanding of the interplay of genetic and high-risk environmental factors in college drinking and can inform prevention and intervention strategies on college campuses.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AA013989-03
Application #
6797403
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAA1-EE (10))
Program Officer
Breslow, Rosalind
Project Start
2002-09-30
Project End
2007-08-31
Budget Start
2004-09-01
Budget End
2005-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$507,717
Indirect Cost
Name
Washington University
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
068552207
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130
Müller, Viktor; Anokhin, Andrey P; Lindenberger, Ulman (2017) Genetic influences on phase synchrony of brain oscillations supporting response inhibition. Int J Psychophysiol 115:125-132
Anokhin, Andrey P (2014) Genetic psychophysiology: advances, problems, and future directions. Int J Psychophysiol 93:173-97
Slutske, Wendy S (2005) Alcohol use disorders among US college students and their non-college-attending peers. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62:321-7
Slutske, Wendy S; Hunt-Carter, Erin E; Nabors-Oberg, Rachel E et al. (2004) Do college students drink more than their non-college-attending peers? Evidence from a population-based longitudinal female twin study. J Abnorm Psychol 113:530-40