overview: A close and supportive parental relationship can help reduce the genetic and environmental risks of developing alcohol use disorders in at-risk teens.
sauce: State University of New York
For teens at high risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), a close parental relationship can help reduce genetic and environmental vulnerability, new research suggests.
Descendants of people with AUD are four times more likely than others to develop the disorder. Increasing evidence suggests that this genetic risk may be amplified or mitigated by parenting quality.
Poor parenting is associated with a range of negative behavioral and psychiatric consequences, whereas positive parenting has been shown to be important for the development of higher levels of social, emotional, and cognitive traits. It seems.
Typical neurological development in adolescence hone self-regulatory and executive functioning abilities (eg, attention, inhibition, and decision-making) that enable adaptive responses to challenging situations. Deficiencies in these competencies underlie the risk of developing substance use disorders.
Studies have shown that people with AUD and their descendants have lower activity in two measures of quantifiable brain responses during cognitive tasks.
Known as P3 and frontal theta (FT), these are important in autoregulation and executive function. Low levels of P3 and FT predict the development of AUD and can be conceptualized as ‘neurodevelopmental delay’. Little is known about the potential for aggressive parenting, especially by the father, to mitigate this outcome for her teens, who are at increased risk of developing AUD.
for research in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Studiesinvestigators investigated associations between P3, FT, risky drinking, and intimacy with adolescent mothers and fathers in vulnerable youth.
Between 2004 and 2019, researchers recruited 1,256 young offspring aged 12–22 years at baseline from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA).
These offspring were interviewed and brain function assessed semi-annually. Interviews covered aspects of the participant’s home environment, including drug use, mental health, and intimacy with her mother and father from her 12-year-old to her 17-year-old age. Their P3 and FT responses were measured using a visual task.
Researchers also assessed participants’ binge-eating, impulsiveness (a personality trait known to influence alcohol-use problems and relationships with parents), demographic characteristics, and parental alcohol and substance abuse. Collected usage data. They used statistical analysis to explore associations between these factors.
Overall, higher intimacy with the father was associated with higher offspring P3 and FT activity, whereas intimacy with the mother was associated with reduced heavy drinking. Certain gender differences also appeared.
Intimacy with fathers was associated with greater P3 for sons but not for daughters. Intimacy with mothers was associated with less binge drinking in daughters, but not in sons.
This may reflect the distinct roles of fathers and mothers in child and teenage development, and differences in parenting boys and girls. Findings were independent of other risk factors, including parental girlfriend’s AUD, substance use problems, socioeconomic status, and offspring impulsivity.
This study suggests that warm, intimate relationships with adolescent parents may help build resilience to problem drinking in offspring adversely affected by family AUD, which may improve neurocognitive function. Aspects of parenting that influence a child’s risk of AUD include drinking behavior.
The researchers conclude that close ties with parents during the critical adolescent transition, along with significant gender differences, may significantly reduce offspring’s propensity for risky behaviors and addictive disorders. .
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About this neurodevelopment, parenting and AUD research news
author: Gayathri Pandey
sauce: State University of New York
contact: Gayathri Pandey – State University of New York
image: image is public domain
Original research: closed access.
“Associations between Parent-Adolescent Intimacy and P3 Amplitude, Frontal Theta, and Binge Drinking in Offspring at High Risk for Alcohol Use Disordersby Gayathri Pandey et al. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Studies
overview
Associations between Parent-Adolescent Intimacy and P3 Amplitude, Frontal Theta, and Binge Drinking in Offspring at High Risk for Alcohol Use Disorders
Background
Parents influence their offspring’s brain development, neurocognitive function, risk, and resilience to alcohol use disorders (AUD) through both genetic and socioenvironmental factors. Individuals with AUD and their unaffected children exhibit low parietal P3 amplitudes and low frontal theta (FT) power, reflecting inherited neurocognitive deficits associated with AUD. Similarly, poorly parented children tend to have atypical brain development and higher rates of alcoholism. Conversely, positive parenting is protective and critical for the normative development of self-regulation, neurocognitive function, and the neurobiological systems that support them. However, the role of positive parenting in resilience to AUD has been poorly studied, and its association with neurocognitive and behavioral vulnerability to AUD in at-risk offspring is less well known. Using data from a collaborative study on the genetics of a prospective cohort of addictions (N. = 1256, average age [SD] = 19.25 [1.88]), investigated the association between adolescent mother-father intimacy and offspring P3 amplitude, FT power, and binge drinking among high-risk offspring.
method
Using a semi-structured assessment for the genetics of alcoholism, we assessed self-reported intimacy and binge drinking with mothers and fathers in 12- to 17-year-olds. P3 amplitude and FT power were assessed in response to target stimuli using the visual oddball task.
result
Multivariate multiple regression analysis showed that closeness to the father was associated with greater P3 amplitude (p = 0.002) or greater FT multiplier (p = 0.01). Closeness to the mother was associated with reduced binge drinking (p = 0.003). In male offspring, intimacy with the father was associated with greater her P3 amplitude, whereas in female offspring, intimacy with the mother was associated with reduced binge drinking. These associations remained statistically significant with paternal and maternal her AUD symptoms, socioeconomic status, and offspring impulsivity in the model.
Conclusion
Among high-risk offspring, parental intimacy during puberty may promote resilience to the development of AUD and related neurocognitive deficits, albeit with important gender differences.
