Adverse Contexts and Genetic Risk for Alcohol Use Among African American Adolescents

• In Event: 2-201 - Findings on adolescent substance use when diversity and inclusion are prioritized

Integrative Statement

Purpose: Conduct problems during childhood and adolescence increase the risk of a number of emotional and behavioral problems, including alcohol use, later in life. During adolescence, conduct problems are an important component of an externalizing pathway to alcohol use and other risky behaviors. Current estimates suggest that conduct disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders among African American youth. Although in most studies of adolescents, conduct disorders would be associated with higher rates of substance use, this is not consistently the case for this group. African American adolescents initiate alcohol use at later ages than other racial/ethnic groups and, when they drink, African American adolescents drink fewer drinks per occasion and drink less frequently than other racial/ethnic groups. In the present paper we report findings from analyses that explored how stressors arising from family and neighborhood contexts and genetic risk for alcohol dependence work together to influence adolescent conduct problems and alcohol use among African American adolescents. Methods: Data came from a subsample of the Genes, Environment, and Neighborhood Initiative study comprising 151 African American adolescents who had consumed alcohol (mean age=16.3; 56% female) residing in low-income neighborhoods and reporting on family and neighborhood stressors, conduct problems, and alcohol use. Genetic risk was assessed through polygenic risk scores for alcohol dependence created from single nucleotide polymorphisms common between a genome-wide association study in African Americans adults and genetic data available in this sample. Results: Although all individuals had consumed alcohol previously, few drank weekly. Path models examined simultaneous associations between exposure to family and neighborhood stressors, genetic risk, conduct problems, and adolescent alcohol use, controlling for demographic characteristics. There were significant associations between exposure to stressors and conduct problems as well as alcohol use, but only associations between polygenic risk for alcohol dependence and conduct problems. There also was a significant interaction between exposure to family and neighborhood stressors and genetic risk in relation to conduct problems, with positive effects of genetic risk on conduct problems stronger under conditions of high exposure to stressors. Conclusions: Among this sample of African American adolescents with relatively low levels of alcohol use, genetic risk for alcohol dependence was not directly associated with alcohol use but instead with greater levels of conduct problems in contexts characterized by more stressors.

Authors

• Cristina B Bares, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Karen G Chartier, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katherine Karriker-Jaffe, Alcohol Research Group
  Non-Presenting Author

• Fazil Aliev, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brian Mustanski, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Danielle M. Dick, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author