Individual Differences in Escalation of Tobacco Use: Impulsivity and Alcohol Use

描述(申请人提供)：与青少年一样，年轻人面临开始使用烟草并升级为日常使用和烟草依赖的风险。然而，并不是每一个间歇性吸烟的年轻人都会对烟草产生依赖，那些过渡到日常吸烟的人的时间过程也有很大的不同。个体差异可能导致观察到的烟草使用模式的变异性。该项目将使用多模式研究方法来检查与吸烟升级相关的冲动维度和酒精特征，以及酒精如何与行为抑制相互作用以增加香烟消费。此外，该项目将支持 申请人的职业目标是成为行为药理学领域的一名独立研究员，能够识别和了解与药物使用和依赖的脆弱性相关的风险因素。冲动性是一个多维结构，可以使用特质测量和行为抑制任务来评估，这些评估很可能会为药物使用的脆弱性提供信息。冲动的维度与烟草有不同的联系 启动、升级和依赖。此外，行为抑制会因急性和慢性药物暴露而改变。酒精也与烟草使用升级的脆弱性密切相关，而急性酒精暴露与行为抑制的减少有关。因此，冲动和饮酒很可能对烟草使用的脆弱性有单独和联合的影响。第一项研究将利用数据 从一项纵向研究中找出年轻人使用烟草的轨迹，以确定1)冲动和酒精使用的哪些方面影响了吸烟加剧的脆弱性，以及2)行为抑制的衡量标准是否因吸烟加剧而改变。第二项研究将利用实验室设计来检验酒精诱导的行为抑制损伤是否在急性饮酒与随意吸烟增加之间的关系中起中介作用。这些研究的结果将通过阐明个体在冲动和饮酒特征方面的差异与吸烟加剧的关系，并确定酒精导致吸烟加剧的机制(S)，从而提高科学知识。这些知识将有助于为旨在减少每天吸烟的年轻人数量的筛查和预防工作提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Like adolescents, young adults are at risk of initiating tobacco use and escalating to daily use and tobacco dependence. However, not every young adult who uses cigarettes intermittently becomes tobacco dependent, and the time-course of those who transition to daily use varies widely. Individual differences likely contribute to the variability observed in patterns of tobacco use. This project will use a multi-modal research approach to examine dimensions of impulsivity and characteristics of alcohol that are associated with vulnerability for escalation of cigarette smoking, and how alcohol interacts with behavioral inhibition to increase cigarette consumption. Furthermore, this project will support the applicant's career goal of becoming an independent investigator in the field of behavioral pharmacology capable of identifying and understanding risk factors associated with vulnerability to drug use and dependence. Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct that can be assessed using trait measures and tasks of behavioral inhibition, and it is likely that these assessments inform drug use vulnerability. Dimensions of impulsivity are differentially associated with tobacco initiation, escalation, and dependence. Moreover, behavioral inhibition is altered as a consequence of acute and chronic drug exposure. Alcohol is also closely associated with vulnerability to escalating tobacco use, and acute alcohol exposure is associated with decrements in behavioral inhibition. Thus it is likely that impulsivity and alcohol use have separate and combined influences on vulnerability to tobacco use. The first study will utilize data from a longitudinal study to identify trajectories of tobacco use in young adults in order to determine 1) which dimensions of impulsivity and alcohol use inform vulnerability to escalating tobacco use, and 2) if measures of behavioral inhibition are altered as a consequence of escalating cigarette use. The second study will utilize a laboratory design to examine whether alcohol-induced impairments in behavioral inhibition mediate the relationship between acute alcohol administration and increases in ad-libitum cigarette consumption. Results from these studies will improve scientific knowledge by elucidating the relationship between individual differences in both impulsivity and characteristics of alcohol use and escalation of cigarette smoking and identifying the mechanism(s) responsible for alcohol-induced escalation of tobacco use. This knowledge will help inform screening and prevention efforts aimed at reducing the amount of young adults who escalate to daily smoking.