Differential neurocognitive functioning and personality traits in underage drinking

RIVAROLA MONTEJANO, GABRIELA; PILATTI, ANGELINA; PAUTASSI R.M.

Virtual Conference

Congreso; Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SNAS) Meeting; 2021

Social and Affective Neuroscience Society

Introduction. Underage drinking is a worldwide public health problem, and is associated with a wide range of negative consequences, including alterations in brain development that translate into poor cognitive functioning (Peeters et al., 2013). Personality traits linked to drinking include impulsivity, sensation seeking and risk taking (Stautz & Cooper, 2013), yet there is a scarcity of studies that analyzed these associations in early adolescence, at the onset of alcohol use. The present study examined, separately for samples of Argentinian pre-adolescents (11 to 13 years old) and adolescents (14 to 16 years old), the relationship between impulsivity, risk taking and cognitive flexibility and alcohol consumption. Methodology: Sample. 974 pre-adolescents and adolescents (M age = 13.30 ± 0.955; 54.5% women) enrolled in ten high-schools of Cordoba city (Argentina). Procedure and instruments. Participants completed the UPPS-P, which assesses 5 dimensions of trait-like impulsivity (Positive and Negative Urgency, Sensation Seeking, Lack of Premeditation and Lack of Perseverance) and reported last-year frequency of alcohol use (from 0= I did´nt drank alcohol to 13= four or more times per week). They also completed a neuropsychological battery: 1-Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Lejuez et al., 2003): Assesses risk taking [the dependent variable (DV) is the adjusted average pumps (the average number of pumps on unexploded balloons)], 2-Go-No Go Task (Bezdjian et al., 2009): measures inhibitory control (DV= commission errors) and inattention (DV= omission errors) and 3-Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Heaton et al., 1993): evaluates cognitive functioning (DV: perseverative errors). Data analysis. We conducted separate multiple regressions for pre-adolescents and adolescents, predicting last year frequency of alcohol use as a function of impulsivity, risk taking, inhibitory control, inattention and cognitive flexibility. Results. The model accounted for 13% of the variance of frequency of alcohol use in pre-adolescents (Fchange= 9.13, p ≤ 0.001). Negative Urgency (β= .13, t= 2.38, p= .018), Sensation Seeking (β= .10, t= 2.28, p= .023), Positive Urgency (β= .12, t= 2.01, p= .045), Adjusted Average Pumps (β= .14, t= 3.52, p= .045) and Omission Errors (β= .09, t= 2.06, p= .040) were significantly associated with a higher frequency of alcohol use. Among the adolescents, three dimensions of trait-like impulsivity and cognitive functioning significantly explained 18% of the variance of frequency of alcohol consumption (Fchange= 10.28, p ≤ 0.001). Specifically, Negative Urgency (β= .15, t= 2.64, p= .009), Lack of Perseverance (β= .16, t= 3.06, p= .002), Sensation Seeking (β= .23, t= 4.81, p= .000) and Perseverative Errors (β= .11, t= 2.35, p= .019) were significantly and positively associated with a higher frequency of alcohol use. Discussion. These results indicate that trait-like impulsivity was significantly associated to substance use behaviors in pre-adolescents and adolescents. Moreover, in the younger group, but not in the older one, higher scores in risk taking and inattention explained higher frequency of alcohol use. Previous research has shown that the immaturity of brain at this age, with delayed development of prefrontal cortices, may explain their difficulties with attentional capacity and their propensity to seek out new and potentially dangerous situations such as drinking, without consideration of the negative consequences of this behavior (Bava, & Tapert, 2010; Spear, 2011). In contrast, alcohol use in the older adolescents was associated with diminished cognitive flexibility. We hypothesize that poorer executive functioning, that in turn promotes alcohol use in this older group, could be the consequence of a history of alcohol use and binge drinking (Brown et al., 2006; Infante et al., 2020). The present study helps disentangle predictors of underage drinking at two stages of adolescence. The data suggests that the design of prevention and intervention strategies should attend the noted differences between pre-adolescents and adolescents.