Examining alcohol use: Integrating behavior genetic and developmental approaches

该项目的广泛目标是[通过研究将发育和行为遗传学方法用于酒精研究]基因，个人背景和社会环境如何直接影响酒精使用和滥用，以及通过相互作用，以及这些关系如何在青春期和青年期发生变化。这项拨款提案的主要目的是整合行为遗传学和发展方法，以研究酒精使用的预测因素，如以前的行为遗传学研究，社会生态学和发展级联模型所支持的，与酒精使用年龄（青春期和青年）和使用阶段（开始滥用）有关的方式，以及这些关系如何随着时间的推移而变化。具体来说，这项研究旨在研究基因（潜在的加性效应[/多基因风险评分]），社会环境背景（父母，同龄人和邻里背景）和个人背景（冲动和儿童虐待/滥用）如何预测青少年和青年时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，两个生物特征模型（使用不同的方法，以使申请人接触到不同的双胞胎建模方式），将被检查以测试不同的社会和个人背景以及基因如何直接与酒精使用相关的概念模型，并通过相互作用，a）在青春期到年轻成年期，以及B）在开始，定期使用和滥用酒精。基因，社会环境和背景特征在特定年龄和使用阶段的影响也将被检查。此外，将通过多基因风险评分（直接和通过与先前提到的协变量的相互作用）检查特定基因对酒精开始、定期使用和滥用的影响。换句话说，本项目将审查：（a）具体影响的重要性是否随着时间的推移而变化（例如，不同年龄），（B）如果这些影响预测了酒精使用随时间的变化，（c）如果特定影响的重要性随酒精使用的阶段而变化（例如，开始，误用），和（d）如果这些影响预测酒精使用阶段的变化。在奖励期间，申请人将接受潜在增长曲线建模、高级生物特征模型（即，潜在生长曲线和多变量阶段生物计量模型），[和基因发现技术，如使用完整基因组信息的多基因风险评分。]此外，她将通过正式课程，研讨会和与专家顾问的教学会议，获得酒精和行为遗传学研究的一般科学和方法的高级培训。该项目的结果将通过提供急需的方法整合（这两个领域的专家都强调了这一需求），使行为遗传学和发展心理学领域受益。研究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，该模型将通过各种潜在机制和外部环境，说明酒精使用如何在青春期和青年期发展。

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.