Multilevel Analysis of Self-regulation and Substance Abuse

说明(申请人提供)：在过去十年中，人们对大麻使用日益普遍和有害影响的认识大大提高，因此迫切需要更好地了解大麻使用的开始和发展的机制。自律提供了一种手段，通过这种手段，我们可以控制自己的思想和行为，使之符合预期的结果。因此，它是物质使用行为的基本组成部分。拟议研究的目的是通过对与大麻使用有关的自我管理过程进行系统评估，更好地了解大麻使用。它采取多层次的方法，检查遗传、神经和社会/行为对大麻使用的影响。具体地说，我们假设遗传变异影响自我调节的神经生物学和社会心理学方面，涉及到关于物质使用的决策。这些神经生物学和社会/行为缺陷随后被牵连到与物质使用的启动、维持和/或升级相关的自我调节的失败。这些过程将通过研究与自我调节相关的神经机制(包括对奖惩的敏感性、反应抑制、注意力和工作记忆)以及与自我调节有关的社会心理因素(如规范信念和物质使用者的原型)在三组大麻使用者中进行探索：(1)从未开始使用大麻的个人，(2)已开始使用但不是重度使用者的个人，以及(3)日常使用者。还将审查特定遗传因素与自我调节和药物使用的神经、生物学和社会方面的联系。公共卫生相关性：了解与大麻使用有关的机制具有重要的公共卫生影响。大麻是最广泛使用的非法药物，最近的统计数据表明，280万美国人符合大麻滥用或依赖的标准(Epstein，2002)。它的使用还与一系列问题有关，包括工作和学习困难、精神病理学和高危性行为。更有效的干预措施的设计尤其应得益于更好地了解自我监管和物质使用，使干预措施能够针对更具体的失调来源。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Awareness of the growing prevalence and deleterious effects of cannabis use has greatly increased over the past decade, making salient the need to better understand the mechanisms that underlie its initiation and progression of use. Self-regulation provides the means through which we control our thoughts and behavior to be in line with desired outcomes. As such, it is a fundamental component in substance use behavior. The purpose of the proposed research is to better understand marijuana use through a systematic assessment of self-regulatory processes related to marijuana use. It takes a multilevel approach, examining genetic, neural, and social/ behavioral influences on marijuana use. In particular, we hypothesize that genetic variability influences neurobiological and social psychological aspects of self-regulation involved in decision making regarding substance use. These neurobiological and social/behavioral deficits are then implicated in failures of self-regulation that are associated with the initiation, maintenance, and/or escalation of substance use. These processes will be explored by examining neural mechanisms associated with self-regulation (including sensitivity to rewards and punishments, response inhibition, and attention and working memory) as well as social psychological factors implicated in self-regulation (such as normative beliefs and prototypes of substance users) among three groups of cannabis users: (1) individuals exposed to marijuana use who have never initiated use, (2) individuals who have initiated use but not as heavy users, and (3) daily users. The association of specific genetic factors with neurobiological and social aspects of self-regulation and drug use will also be examined. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Understanding the mechanisms associated with cannabis use has important public health implications. Cannabis is the mostly widely used illicit drug, and recent statistics indicate that 2.8 million Americans meet criteria for cannabis abuse or dependence (Epstein, 2002). Its use it also associated with a wide ranged of problems, including difficultly at work and school, psychopathology, and high risk sexual behavior. The design of more effective interventions should particularly benefit from a better understanding of self-regulation and substance use, allowing interventions to be targeted to more specific sources of dysregulation.