Maximum Drinks, Alcoholism and Psychopathology Risk

描述(由申请人提供)：这项建议的总体目标有两个：1)发展一条旨在揭示青春期和成年期酒精相关问题发展的纲领性研究路线，使用在初步研究中显示出相当有希望作为风险指标的最高24小时酒精摄入量的中级表型；以及2)通过额外的精神病理学、纵向数据分析的统计方法、神经科学、遗传学(行为遗传学、遗传流行病学和其他定量方法)以及事件相关电位和大脑结构和动力学的磁共振成像分析的高级方法来加强申请人在发展心理学方面的培训。拟议的研究计划将建立在以下发现的基础上：与酒精依赖的精神诊断相比，最大摄入量似乎更直接地与引发肥胖症风险的机制有关，并将使用发育和遗传信息的多方法方法来1)评估最大摄入量表型的结构有效性，2)描述青少年中与药物滥用风险有关的发育轨迹，以及3)表征高危青少年的神经动力学。培训活动将使申请者更好地准备进行拟议的研究，该奖项将提供对这一重要表型进行系统研究的自由。这些都将允许申请者追求他的最终目标，作为一名独立研究人员，调查与外部化障碍和药物滥用相关的神经过程。此外，这项研究可能会在理论上和临床上产生有用的发现。它将扩展之前关于物质滥用风险的电生理相关性的研究，并最终为高危个人的干预努力带来重大希望。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goals of this proposal are twofold: 1) to develop a programmatic line of research aimed at shedding light on the development of alcohol-related problems in adolescence and into adulthood using an intermediate phenotype maximum 24-hr alcohol consumption that has shown considerable promise as an indicator of risk in preliminary studies; and 2) to augment the applicant's training in developmental psychology with additional training in psychopathology, statistical methods for longitudinal data analysis, neuroscience, genetics (behavioral genetics, genetic epidemiology, and other quantitative methods), and advanced methods of event-related potential and magnetic resonance imaging analysis of brain structure and dynamics. The proposed research plan will build on findings that maximum consumption appears to relate more directly to the mechanisms conferring risk for SUDs than a psychiatric diagnosis of alcohol dependence and will use a developmentally and genetically-informed, multimethod approach to 1) evaluate the construct validity of the maximum consumption phenotype, 2) describe developmental trajectories among adolescent youth in relation to substance abuse risk and 3) to characterize neural dynamics among high-risk adolescents. The training activities will better prepare the applicant to conduct the proposed research, and the award would provide the freedom to pursue systematic research on this important phenotype. Together these will allow the applicant to pursue his ultimate goal as an independent researcher investigating neural processes associated with externalizing disorders and substance abuse. In addition, this research is likely to yield theoretically and clinically useful findings. It will extend previous research on electrophysiological correlates of substance abuse risk and ultimately holds significant promise for intervention efforts with high-risk individuals.