Individual Differences in Escalation of Tobacco Use: Impulsivity and Alcohol Use

描述（由申请人提供）：与青少年一样，年轻人也有开始使用烟草并升级为日常使用和烟草依赖的风险。然而，并不是每一个间歇性吸烟的年轻人都会对烟草产生依赖，而且那些过渡到日常使用的人的时间过程差异很大。个体差异可能导致烟草使用模式的变异性。该项目将使用多模态研究方法来研究与吸烟升级相关的冲动性和酒精特征的维度，以及酒精如何与行为抑制相互作用以增加卷烟消费。此外，该项目将支持 申请人的职业目标是成为行为药理学领域的独立研究者，能够识别和理解与药物使用和依赖相关的风险因素。冲动是一个多维度的结构，可以使用特质措施和行为抑制任务进行评估，很可能这些评估告知药物使用的脆弱性。冲动性的维度与烟草有着不同的联系 启动、升级和依赖。此外，行为抑制作为急性和慢性药物暴露的结果而改变。酒精也与烟草使用增加的脆弱性密切相关，急性酒精暴露与行为抑制的减少有关。因此，冲动性和饮酒可能对烟草使用的脆弱性有单独和综合的影响。第一项研究将利用数据 从一项纵向研究中确定年轻人烟草使用的轨迹，以确定1）冲动和酒精使用的哪些维度告知烟草使用增加的脆弱性，以及2）行为抑制措施是否因吸烟增加而改变。第二项研究将利用实验室设计，以检查酒精诱导的行为抑制障碍是否介导急性酒精管理和随意吸烟量增加之间的关系。这些研究的结果将通过阐明冲动性和酒精使用特征的个体差异与吸烟升级之间的关系以及确定酒精诱导的烟草使用升级的机制来提高科学知识。这些知识将有助于为筛查和预防工作提供信息，以减少每天吸烟的年轻人数量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Like adolescents, young adults are at risk of initiating tobacco use and escalating to daily use and tobacco dependence. However, not every young adult who uses cigarettes intermittently becomes tobacco dependent, and the time-course of those who transition to daily use varies widely. Individual differences likely contribute to the variability observed in patterns of tobacco use. This project will use a multi-modal research approach to examine dimensions of impulsivity and characteristics of alcohol that are associated with vulnerability for escalation of cigarette smoking, and how alcohol interacts with behavioral inhibition to increase cigarette consumption. Furthermore, this project will support the applicant's career goal of becoming an independent investigator in the field of behavioral pharmacology capable of identifying and understanding risk factors associated with vulnerability to drug use and dependence. Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct that can be assessed using trait measures and tasks of behavioral inhibition, and it is likely that these assessments inform drug use vulnerability. Dimensions of impulsivity are differentially associated with tobacco initiation, escalation, and dependence. Moreover, behavioral inhibition is altered as a consequence of acute and chronic drug exposure. Alcohol is also closely associated with vulnerability to escalating tobacco use, and acute alcohol exposure is associated with decrements in behavioral inhibition. Thus it is likely that impulsivity and alcohol use have separate and combined influences on vulnerability to tobacco use. The first study will utilize data from a longitudinal study to identify trajectories of tobacco use in young adults in order to determine 1) which dimensions of impulsivity and alcohol use inform vulnerability to escalating tobacco use, and 2) if measures of behavioral inhibition are altered as a consequence of escalating cigarette use. The second study will utilize a laboratory design to examine whether alcohol-induced impairments in behavioral inhibition mediate the relationship between acute alcohol administration and increases in ad-libitum cigarette consumption. Results from these studies will improve scientific knowledge by elucidating the relationship between individual differences in both impulsivity and characteristics of alcohol use and escalation of cigarette smoking and identifying the mechanism(s) responsible for alcohol-induced escalation of tobacco use. This knowledge will help inform screening and prevention efforts aimed at reducing the amount of young adults who escalate to daily smoking.