Examining alcohol use: Integrating behavior genetic and developmental approaches

描述(由申请人提供)：这个项目的广泛目标是[整合酒精研究的发育和行为遗传学方法，通过研究]基因、个人背景和社会环境如何直接影响酒精的使用和滥用，以及这些关系如何在青春期和青春期发生变化。这项赠款提案的主要目的是将行为遗传学和发育方法相结合，以研究先前的行为遗传学研究、社会生态学和发育级联模型支持的酒精使用预测因素与酒精使用随年龄(青春期和成年期)和使用阶段(开始滥用)的关系，以及这些关系如何随时间变化。具体地说，这项资助建议研究基因(潜在的加性效应[/多基因风险分数])、社会环境环境(父母、同龄人和邻居环境)和个人环境(冲动和虐待儿童/虐待)如何预测青春期和青春期的酒精使用和滥用，作为直接影响，并通过相互作用。[使用双胞胎和兄弟姐妹数据，两个生物测定模型(使用不同的方法，以使申请者接触不同的双胞胎建模方法)将被检验，以测试不同的社会和个人环境和基因如何直接联系到饮酒，并通过彼此的互动，a)从青春期到青春期，以及b)过度饮酒、经常饮酒和误用酒精。]还将研究基因、社会环境和背景特征在特定年龄和使用阶段的影响。此外，将通过多基因风险评分(直接或通过与前面提到的协变量的交互作用)检查特定基因对酒精的启动、经常使用和误用的影响。换句话说，该项目将研究：(A)特定影响的重要性是否随着时间的推移而变化(例如，不同的年龄)，(B)这些影响是否预示着酒精使用随时间的变化，(C)特定影响的重要性是否会随着酒精使用的不同阶段而变化(例如，开始、误用)，以及(D)这些影响是否预测酒精使用阶段的变化。在获奖期间，申请者将接受潜在生长曲线建模、高级生物测定模型(即潜在生长曲线和多变量阶段生物测定模型)[以及利用全基因组信息进行多基因风险评分等基因发现技术]的培训。此外，她还将通过正式课程、研讨会和与专家顾问的授课会议，获得酒精和行为遗传学研究的一般科学和方法论方面的高级培训。该项目的成果将使行为遗传学和发展心理学领域受益，因为它提供了亟需的方法整合(这两个领域的专家都强调了这一需求)。这一结果将是朝着建立一个更全面、更彻底的模型迈出的重要一步，该模型通过各种潜在机制和外部环境，研究酒精使用是如何在青春期和青年时期发展的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The broad goal of this project is to[ integrate developmental and behavioral genetic approaches for alcohol research, by examining ]how genes, individual contexts, and social environments influence alcohol use and misuse directly, and through interactions with each other, and how these relations change over adolescence and young adulthood. The primary aims of this grant proposal are to integrate behavioral genetic and developmental approaches to examine the ways in which predictors of alcohol use, as supported by previous behavioral genetic research, and social ecology and developmental cascade models, relate to alcohol use over age (adolescence and young adulthood) and stage of use (initiation to misuse), as well as how these relations change over time. Specifically, this grant proposes to examine how genes (latent additive effects[/polygenic risk scores]), social environments contexts (parents, peers, and neighborhood contexts), and personal contexts (impulsivity and child maltreatment/abuse) predict alcohol use and misuse over adolescence and young adulthood as direct effects and through interaction with each other.[ Using twin and sibling data, two biometric models (using different approaches, in order to expose the applicant to different ways of twin modeling), will be examined to test a conceptual model of how different social and personal contexts and genes relate to alcohol use directly, and through interaction with each other, a) over adolescence to young adulthood, and b) over initiation, regular use, and misuse of alcohol.] Effects of genes, social environments, and contexts characteristics at specific ages and stages of use will also be examined. Additionally, the effect of specific genes on initiation, regular use, and misuse of alcohol will be examined (directly and through interaction with the previously mentioned covariates) via polygenic risk scores. In other words, this project will examine: (a) if the importance of specific influences change over time (e.g., different ages), (b) if these influences predict changes in alcohol use over time, (c) if the importance of specific influences change over stages of alcohol use (e.g., initiation, misuse), and (d) if these influences predict changes in stage of alcohol use. During the award period, the applicant will be trained in latent growth curve modeling, advanced biometric models (i.e., latent growth curve and multivariate stage biometric models), [and gene-finding techniques such as polygenic risk scores using complete-genome information.] Additionally, she will obtain advanced training in the general science and methodology of alcohol and behavioral genetics research through formal courses, workshops, and didactic meetings with expert consultants. Results from this project will benefit the fields of behavioral genetics and developmental psychology by providing much-needed integration of approaches (a need underscored by experts in both fields). The results will be an important step towards building a more comprehensive and thorough model of how alcohol use develops over adolescence and young adulthood through various underlying mechanisms and external contexts.