CHILDHOOD PREDICTORS OF ALCHOLISM AND VIOLENCE

申请人摘要：这是一个竞争性的延续申请，最初是为了回应关于酒精和青年的RFA。以前大多数关于酗酒和暴力的心理生理学研究都受到这样一个事实的限制，即它是横向的，而不是纵向的。为了解决文献中的这一关键差距，我们正在进行一项关于酗酒和反社会行为的前瞻性、纵向研究。两个最重要的假设将被检验：1)非反社会酗酒者在唤醒过程中表现出自主神经和中枢神经系统，2)反社会酗酒者在唤醒过程中表现出自主神经和中枢神经系统。1972年，对1795名3岁的毛里求斯儿童进行了皮肤电导和心率唤醒和定向的测量。男性和女性的比例是平等的，而印度教徒、穆斯林、克里奥尔人和中国人的比例与他们在岛上的比例相同。在11岁时，重复这些测量，同时收集关于静息脑电和事件相关电位的额外数据。我们目前正在对所有现年28岁的受试者进行诊断性访谈，以确定他们的酒精中毒诊断以及其他Axis I和Axis II障碍。此外，最近在NIMH资助的一项研究中收集的反社会和暴力行为的自我报告和官方测量，将适用于所有受试者。然后，这些诊断和反社会行为结果测量将与在3岁和11岁时获得的心理生理学测量相关。我们使用SCID的新试点工作建立了15.0%的酒精滥用基本比率，略高于我们之前使用MAST数据估计的13.5%。因此，我们正在申请资金以完成这项研究。由于在儿童早期采取的心理生理措施在包括四个民族和女性的广泛队列中得到了良好的收集，人们认为这个项目提供了一个独特的机会来评估酗酒和暴力的早期心理生理风险因素，并探索种族、宗教和性别的影响。这样的研究反过来有可能解决最近关于青少年、暴力和少数群体的酗酒问题的RFA中提出的一些问题。

APPLICANT'S ABSTRACT: This is a competing continuation application which was originally made in response to an RFA on Alcohol and Youth. Most previous psychophysiological research on alcoholism and violence is limited by the fact that it is cross-sectional, and not longitudinal. To address this critical gap in the literature, we are conducting a prospective, longitudinal study of alcoholism and antisocial behavior. Two overarching hypotheses will be tested: 1) the non-antisocial alcoholics show autonomic and central nervous system over arousal and 2) that antisocial alcoholics show autonomic and central nervous system under arousal. Measures of skin conductance and heart rate arousal and orienting were acquired in 1972 on a cohort of 1,795 three-year-old Mauritian children. Males and females are equally represented, while Hindus, Muslims, Creoles, and Chinese are contained in the sample in proportion to their representation on the island. At age 11 years, these measures were repeated, while additional data on resting EEG and event-related potentials were collected. We are currently conducting diagnostic interviews on all the subjects who are now aged 28 years in order to ascertain their alcoholism diagnoses and other Axis I and Axis II disorders. In addition, both self-report and official measures of antisocial and violent behavior, which have recently been collected in a study funded by NIMH, will be available on all subjects. These diagnostic and antisocial behavior outcome measures will then be related to psychophysiological measures obtained at ages 3 and 11 years. Our new pilot work using the SCID has established a base rate of 15.0% alcohol abuse, slightly higher than the 13.5% we had previously estimated with MAST data. We are consequently applying for funds to complete the study. Due to the sound collection of psychophysiological measures taken in early childhood on an extensive cohort which includes four ethnic groups and females, it is felt that this project offers a unique opportunity to assess early psychophysiological risk factors for alcoholism and violence, and to explore ethnic, religious, and gender effects. Such research has in turn the potential to address some of the issues raised in recent RFAs on alcoholism pertaining to youth, violence, and minorities.