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Objective: Risky substance use among college students is widespread, and associated with numerous adverse consequences. Current interventions focus primarily on students' current substance use; we hypothesize that shifting focus from current use to underlying risk factors is a complementary approach that may improve effectiveness of prevention/intervention programming. This approach aligns with the personalized medicine movement, which aims to harness knowledge about underlying etiological factors to provide individuals with specific information about their unique risk profiles and personalized recommendations, to motivate and enable individuals to better self-regulate their health. Method: Our group is building and evaluating an online Personalized Feedback Program (PFP) for college students that provides feedback about the individual's underlying genetically influenced externalizing and internalizing risk factors for substance use, along with personalized recommendations/resources. The project capitalizes on work from a university-wide research project (Spit for Science; S4S), in which > 12,000 students (˜70% of 5 years of incoming freshmen) are being followed longitudinally to assess substance use and related factors across the college years. In this article, we describe our foundational work to develop the PFP. Results: From the S4S data, we have identified risk factors across four domains (Sensation Seeking, Impulsivity, Extraversion, and Neuroticism) that are correlated with college students' substance use. We developed an online self-guided PFP, in collaboration with professionals from student affairs, and using feedback from students, with the ultimate goal of conducting a randomized clinical trial. Conclusion: The provision of personalized risk information represents a novel approach to complement and extend existing college substance use programming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: Several typologies have proposed two etiological pathways involved in the development of alcohol misuse which are associated with the internalizing and externalizing domains of psychopathology, respectively. This study's aim was to investigate this typology in a young adult sample, and test whether drinking motives, specifically drinking for negative or positive reinforcement, may provide a plausible mechanism characterizing these pathways. Method: Mixture modeling was conducted on a set of internalizing (anxiety, depression, neuroticism), externalizing (antisocial behavior, conscientiousness, sensation seeking, drug use), and alcohol misuse items (binge drinking, alcohol use disorder symptoms [AUDsx]) measured by self-report in a sample of 9,807 college students. Linear regression and chi-square tests were used to determine how latent class membership was associated with drinking motives, demographics, and personality characteristics. Results: The model identified 3 latent classes: a Low Risk class (70%), an Internalizing class (19%) with elevated levels of internalizing traits/symptoms and AUDsx, and an Externalizing class (10%) with elevated levels of externalizing traits/symptoms and both binge drinking and AUDsx. All drinking motives were substantially elevated in the Internalizing and Externalizing (vs Low Risk) classes (p < 3.0E-10), while positive reinforcement motives were specifically elevated in the Externalizing (vs Internalizing) class (p < 2.0E-55). Personality comparisons further emphasized the relevance of class distinctions. Conclusions: These findings provide additional support for both a specific internalizing and a broadband externalizing association with subtypes of alcohol misuse. Drinking motives may be useful intermediate indicators of these different risk processes.

The purpose of this study was to examine possible pathways by which genetic risk associated with externalizing is transmitted in families. We used molecular data to disentangle the genetic and environmental pathways contributing to adolescent externalizing behavior in a sample of 1,111 adolescents (50% female; 719 European and 392 African ancestry) and their parents from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. We found evidence for genetic nurture such that parental externalizing polygenic scores were associated with adolescent externalizing behavior, over and above the effect of adolescents’ own externalizing polygenic scores. Mediation analysis indicated that parental externalizing psychopathology partly explained the effect of parental genotype on children’s externalizing behavior. We also found evidence for evocative gene-environment correlation, whereby adolescent externalizing polygenic scores were associated with lower parent–child communication, less parent–child closeness, and lower parental knowledge, controlling for parental genotype. These effects were observed among participants of European ancestry but not African ancestry, likely due to the limited predictive power of polygenic scores across ancestral background. These results demonstrate that in addition to genetic transmission, genes influence offspring behavior through the influence of parental genotypes on their children’s environmental experiences, and the role of children’s genotypes in shaping parent–child relationships.

Human genetics is advancing at an unprecedented pace. Improvements in genotyping technology and rapidly falling costs have accelerated gene discovery. We can now comprehensively scan the genome, testing variation across millions of genetic markers, to identify specific variants associated with any outcome of interest. Large consortia consisting of hundreds of scientists are analyzing data from hundreds of thousands to millions of individuals. Multivariate methods now enable us to identify genes involved in underlying processes, to complement studies focused on specific disorders or traits. There has been an exponential increase in use of direct-to-consumer genetic feedback platforms. These advances are poised to have a widespread effect on medicine and society. However, with such rapid progress will come ethical, social, and legal challenges. Among those challenges is the need for increased efforts to enhance public understanding of the ways genes contribute to complex behavioral outcomes, and for increased diversity in the field of genetics to ensure that all people benefit from advances. Psychologists can play an important role in addressing the inevitable questions that will arise as genetics increasingly becomes mainstream.

Background We sought to clarify the impact of adolescent alcohol misuse on adult physical health and subjective well-being. To do so, we investigated both the direct associations between adolescent alcohol misuse and early midlife physical health and life satisfaction and the indirect effects on these outcomes attributable to subsequent alcohol problems. Method The sample included 2733 twin pairs (32% monozygotic; 52% female) from the FinnTwin16 study. Adolescent alcohol misuse was a composite of frequency of drunkenness, frequency of alcohol use, and alcohol problems at ages 16, 17, and 18.5. The early midlife outcomes included somatic symptoms, self-rated health, and life satisfaction at age 34. The mediators examined as part of the indirect effect analyses included alcohol problems from the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index at ages 24 and 34. Serial mediation and co-twin comparison models were applied and included covariates from adolescence and early midlife. Results There were weak direct associations between adolescent alcohol misuse and early midlife physical health and life satisfaction. However, there was stronger evidence for indirect effects, whereby young adult and early midlife alcohol problems serially mediated the relationship between adolescent alcohol misuse and early midlife somatic symptoms (beta = 0.03, 95% CI [0.03, 0.04]), self-rated health (beta = -0.02, 95% CI [-0.03, -0.01]), and life satisfaction (beta = -0.03, CI [-0.04, -0.02]). These serial mediation effects were robust in co-twin comparison analyses. Conclusions These results provide evidence that alcohol problems are a primary driver linking adolescent alcohol misuse and poor health outcomes across the lifespan.

College students are at high risk for cannabis use, interpersonal trauma (IPT) exposure, and trauma-related distress (TRD). Two phenotypic etiologic models posited to explain associations between cannabis use and trauma-related phenotypes are the self-medication (trauma/TRD → cannabis use) and high-risk (cannabis use → trauma/TRD) hypotheses. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate direct and indirect associations among cannabis use, IPT exposure, and TRD above and beyond established covariates.The current study used data from the first assessment (i.e., baseline survey at Year 1 Fall) and two follow-up assessments (i.e., Year 1 Spring and Year 2 Spring) from an ongoing longitudinal study on college behavioral health. Participants were 4 cohorts of college students (Results suggest that more IPT exposure increases risk for TRD and subsequent nonexperimental (use 6+ times) cannabis use, and that experimental (use 1-5 times) and nonexperimental cannabis use increases risk for IPT exposure and subsequent TRD.Both the self-medication and high-risk hypotheses were supported. Findings support a bidirectional causal relationship between cannabis use and trauma-related phenotypes. Additionally, results highlight areas for colleges to intervene among students to help reduce cannabis use and create a safer environment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Externalizing behavior in early adolescence is associated with alcohol use in adolescence and early adulthood and these behaviors often emerge as part of a developmental sequence. This pattern can be the result of heterotypic continuity, in which different behaviors emerge over time based on an underlying shared etiology. In particular, there is largely a shared genetic etiology underlying externalizing and substance use behaviors. We examined whether polygenic risk for alcohol use disorder predicted (1) externalizing behavior in early adolescence and alcohol use in adolescence in the Early Steps Multisite sample and (2) externalizing behavior in adolescence and alcohol use in early adulthood in the Project Alliance 1 (PAL1) sample. We examined associations separately for African Americans and European Americans. When examining European Americans in the Early Steps sample, greater polygenic risk was associated with externalizing behavior in early adolescence. In European Americans in PAL1, we found greater polygenic risk was associated with alcohol use in early adulthood. Effects were largely absent in African Americans in both samples. Results imply that genetic predisposition for alcohol use disorder may increase risk for externalizing and alcohol use as these behaviors emerge developmentally.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between alcohol use disorder (AUD), its psychiatric comorbidities, and their interactions, with marital outcomes in a diverse high-risk, genetically informative sample. METHOD: Participants included European ancestry (EA, n=4045) and African ancestry (AA, n=1550) individuals from the multigenerational COGA sample (56% female, M(age) ~ 41 years). Outcomes were lifetime marriage and divorce. Predictors included lifetime AUD, an alcohol problems polygenic score, and AUD comorbidities, including antisocial personality disorder (ASP), cannabis dependence/abuse (CAN), frequent tobacco use (TOB), and major depressive disorder (MDD). Mixed effect Cox models and generalized linear mixed effects models were fit. RESULTS: Among EA participants, those with AUD and CAN were less likely to marry (hazard ratios [HR] 0.70–0.83, ps < 0.01). Among AA participants, those with AUD and TOB were less likely to marry (HRs 0.66–0.82, ps < 0.05) and those with MDD were more likely to marry (HR = 1.34, p < 0.01). Among EA participants, AUD, CAN, TOB, and MDD were associated with higher odds of divorce (ORs 1.59–2.21, ps < 0.01). Among AA participants, no predictors were significantly associated with divorce. Significant random effects indicated genetic and environmental influences on marriage, but only environmental factors on divorce. CONCLUSIONS: In a high-risk sample, alcohol use disorder was associated with reduced likelihood of marriage in European and African ancestry individuals, and increased risk of divorce in European ancestry individuals. These associations were largely independent of comorbidities. Genetic and environmental background factors contributed to marriage, while only environmental background factors contributed to divorce.

OBJECTIVE Traumatic events (TE) are a risk factor for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Resilience may be protective of the effects of TE exposure, but few studies have longitudinally tested the buffering hypothesis. Thus, the present study aimed to fill this gap. METHOD Participants (N = 6,015) were from a longitudinal investigation into substance use and health outcomes at a large, urban university. Participants completed self-report measures on precollege internalizing symptoms and lifetime trauma load. Resilience was calculated as a quantitative variable. At each of the follow-up assessments, participants reported on past month consumption, AUD symptoms, and new onset TEs. Longitudinal path modeling was used to test interactions. RESULTS Higher new onset TE load was associated with greater AUD symptoms, and higher consumption at one time-point. Results demonstrate a significant main effect of resilience at Y1S and Y3S, and a significant interaction between resilience and new onset TE at the last time-point, whereby higher levels of new onset TE were associated with higher levels of AUD symptoms at low (β = .19, p < .001), and average (β = .20, p = .001) levels of resilience. This effect was attenuated at high levels of resilience (β = .07, p = .051). No significant main nor interaction effects of resilience on consumption were found. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest resilience as an important protective factor in relation to the development of AUD symptoms after exposure to a TE, though perhaps less so in relation to consumption. Findings are consistent with prior work demonstrating that AUD symptoms are more clinically relevant than consumption in this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Research has identified clinical, genomic, and neurophysiological markers associated with suicide attempts (SA) among individuals with psychiatric illness. However, there is limited research among those with an alcohol use disorder, despite their disproportionately higher rates of SA. We examined lifetime SA in 4,068 individuals with DSM-IV alcohol dependence from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (23% lifetime suicide attempt; 53% female; 17% Admixed African American ancestries; mean age: 38). We 1) explored clinical risk factors associated with SA, 2) conducted a genome-wide association study of SA, 3) examined whether individuals with a SA had elevated polygenic scores for comorbid psychiatric conditions (e.g., alcohol use disorders, lifetime suicide attempt, and depression), and 4) explored differences in electroencephalogram neural functional connectivity between those with and without a SA. One gene-based finding emerged,RFX3(Regulatory Factor X, located on 9p24.2) which had supporting evidence in prior research of SA among individuals with major depression. Only the polygenic score for suicide attempts was associated with reporting a suicide attempt (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.37). Lastly, we observed decreased right hemispheric frontal-parietal theta and decreased interhemispheric temporal-parietal alpha electroencephalogram resting-state coherences among those participants who reported a SA relative to those who did not, but differences were small. Overall, individuals with alcohol dependence who report SA appear to experience a variety of severe comorbidities and elevated polygenic risk for SA. Our results demonstrate the need to further investigate suicide attempts in the presence of substance use disorders.

Introduction: The utility of genetic risk information relies on the assumption that individuals will use the information to change behavior to reduce risk for developing health problems. Educational interventions designed to target elements of the Health Belief Model have shown to be effective in promoting behaviors for positive outcomes. Methods: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in 325 college students to assess whether a brief, online educational intervention altered elements of the Health Belief Model that are known to be associated with motivations and intentions to change behavior. The RCT included a control condition, an intervention condition that received information about alcohol use disorder (AUD), and an intervention condition that received information about polygenic risk scores and AUD. We used t-tests and ANOVA methods to compare differences in beliefs related to the Health Belief Model across study conditions and demographic characteristics. Results: Providing educational information did not impact worry about developing AUD, perceived susceptibility and severity of developing alcohol problems, or perceived benefits and barriers of risk reducing actions. Individuals in the condition that received educational information about polygenic risk scores and AUD reported higher perceived chance of developing AUD than individuals in the control condition (adj. p < .01). Sex, race/ethnicity, family history, and drinking status were associated with several components of the Health Belief Model. Conclusion: Findings from this study demonstrate the need to better design and refine the educational information intended to accompany the return of genetic feedback for AUD to better promote risk-reducing behaviors.

Proprietary genetic datasets are valuable for boosting the statistical power of genome-wide association studies (GWASs), but their use can restrict investigators from publicly sharing the resulting summary statistics. Although researchers can resort to sharing down-sampled versions that exclude restricted data, down-sampling reduces power and might change the genetic etiology of the phenotype being studied. These problems are further complicated when using multivariate GWAS methods, such as genomic structural equation modeling (Genomic SEM), that model genetic correlations across multiple traits. Here, we propose a systematic approach to assess the comparability of GWAS summary statistics that include versus exclude restricted data. Illustrating this approach with a multivariate GWAS of an externalizing factor, we assessed the impact of down-sampling on (1) the strength of the genetic signal in univariate GWASs, (2) the factor loadings and model fit in multivariate Genomic SEM, (3) the strength of the genetic signal at the factor level, (4) insights from gene-property analyses, (5) the pattern of genetic correlations with other traits, and (6) polygenic score analyses in independent samples. For the externalizing GWAS, down-sampling resulted in a loss of genetic signal and fewer genome-wide significant loci, while the factor loadings and model fit, gene-property analyses, genetic correlations, and polygenic score analyses are robust. Given the importance of data sharing for the advancement of open science, we recommend that investigators who share down-sampled summary statistics report these analyses as accompanying documentation to support other researchers’ use of the summary statistics.

Aim This study presents a measure of Social Recovery Capital (SRC) derived from the Important People and Activities instrument (IPA). Methods The sample comprised young adults who participated in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism, a high-risk family study of alcohol use disorder (N = 2472). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis identified influential items and factor structure, adjusting for family relatedness. The final scale was tested for reliability and validity. Results Factor analysis retained 10 items loading on three factors (Network Abstinence Behaviors, Basic Network Structure and Network Importance) that together explained 42% of the variance in SRC. The total model showed adequate fit (Comparative Fit Index = 0.95; Tucker Lewis Index = 0.93; Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.06; Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual = 0.05) and acceptable reliability (α = 0.60; McDonald’s ω = 0.73) and correlated with validation measures mostly in the weak to moderate range. Due to variable factor scores for reliability and validity, we only recommend using the total score. Conclusion The SRC-IPA is a novel measure of SRC derived from the IPA that captures social network data and has applications in research and clinical work. Secondary data analyses using the SRC-IPA in studies that collected the IPA can further demonstrate the interaction of SRC with a wide variety of clinical indicators and demographic characteristics, making it a valuable addition to other measures of SRC.

BACKGROUND: Identifying factors influencing substance use among racial/ethnic minorities (REM) is important given the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this population. OBJECTIVES: We examined factors in four domains and hypothesized that poor mental health, negative coping behaviors, negative environmental aspects, and belonging to more vulnerable social groups would be associated with increased substance use during the pandemic. METHODS: Multiple regression was applied to longitudinal data from a college sample assessed prior (fall 2017 to spring 2019) and during (spring 2020) the pandemic (n=323; 81.5% cisgender women; 34.5% African-American, 36.1% Asian-American, 15.5% Hispanic/Latinx, 11.8% multi-racial) to identify factors predicting current alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine use frequency (spring 2020) and change in frequency of use between springs 2019 and 2020. RESULTS: While infrequent substance use (monthly or less) decreased during the pandemic, abstinence rates increased (alcohol 39%; cannabis 18%; nicotine 18%) and higher-frequency alcohol use increased (207%-1600% 2–3 times+/week) compared to spring 2019. The strongest protective factor was change in living situation during the pandemic, associated with lower current alcohol and cannabis use. Risk factors included a history of trouble with police and impulsivity since the pandemic, both associated with higher current and increased alcohol and cannabis use. REM did not differ on most factors and the outcomes. However, a higher percentage of Asian-Americans than other REM reported living situation changes. CONCLUSION: Substance use rates diverged during the pandemic, with both increased abstinence and higher-frequency use, attributed mostly to mental health and environmental domain factors with few REM differences.

OBJECTIVE: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), a 10-item screen for alcohol use disorder (AUD), have elucidated novel loci for alcohol consumption and misuse. However, these studies also revealed that GWASs can be influenced by numerous biases (e.g., measurement error, selection bias), which may have led to inconsistent genetic correlations between alcohol involvement and AUD, as well as paradoxically negative genetic correlations between alcohol involvement and psychiatric disorders and/or medical conditions. The authors used genomic structural equation modeling to elucidate the genetics of alcohol consumption and problematic consequences of alcohol use as measured by AUDIT. METHODS: To explore these unexpected differences in genetic correlations, the authors conducted the first item-level and the largest GWAS of AUDIT items (N=160,824) and applied a multivariate framework to mitigate previous biases. RESULTS: The authors identified novel patterns of similarity (and dissimilarity) among the AUDIT items and found evidence of a correlated two-factor structure at the genetic level ("consumption" and "problems," rg=0.80). Moreover, by applying empirically derived weights to each of the AUDIT items, the authors constructed an aggregate measure of alcohol consumption that was strongly associated with alcohol dependence (rg=0.67), moderately associated with several other psychiatric disorders, and no longer positively associated with health and positive socioeconomic outcomes. Lastly, by conducting polygenic analyses in three independent cohorts that differed in their ascertainment and prevalence of AUD, the authors identified novel genetic associations between alcohol consumption, alcohol misuse, and health. CONCLUSIONS: This work further emphasizes the value of AUDIT for both clinical and genetic studies of AUD and the importance of using multivariate methods to study genetic associations that are more closely related to AUD.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors have partially distinct genetic etiologies. We used PRS-CS to create polygenic risk scores (PRS) from GWAS of non-suicidal self-injury, broad sense self-harm ideation, non-fatal suicide attempt, death by suicide, and depression. Using mixed-effect models, we estimated whether these PRS were associated with a range of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (N = 7,526). All PRS were significantly associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempt (betas=0.08-0.44, FDR

We examined the associations between the developmental timing of interpersonal trauma exposure (IPT) and three indicators of involvement in and quality of romantic relationships in emerging adulthood: relationship status, relationship satisfaction, and partner alcohol use. We further examined whether these associations varied in a sex-specific manner. In a sample of emerging adult college students (N = 12,358; 61.5% female) assessed longitudinally across the college years, we found precollege IPT increased the likelihood of being in a relationship, while college-onset IPT decreased the likelihood. Precollege and college-onset IPT predicted lower relationship satisfaction, and college-onset IPT predicted higher partner alcohol use. There was no evidence that associations between IPT and relationship characteristics varied in a sex-specific manner. Findings indicate that IPT exposure, and the developmental timing of IPT, may affect college students’ relationship status. Findings also suggest that IPT affects their ability to form satisfying relationships with prosocial partners.

Background and Hypothesis Risk for cannabis use and schizophrenia is influenced in part by genetic factors, and there is evidence that genetic risk for schizophrenia is associated with subclinical psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Few studies to date have examined whether genetic risk for schizophrenia is associated with cannabis-related PLEs. Study Design We tested whether measures of cannabis involvement and polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia were associated with self-reported cannabis-related experiences in a sample ascertained for alcohol use disorders (AUDs), the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). We analyzed 4832 subjects (3128 of European ancestry and 1704 of African ancestry; 42% female; 74% meeting lifetime criteria for an AUD). Study Results Cannabis use disorder (CUD) was prevalent in this analytic sample (70%), with 40% classified as mild, 25% as moderate, and 35% as severe. Polygenic risk for schizophrenia was positively associated with cannabis-related paranoia, feeling depressed or anhedonia, social withdrawal, and cognitive difficulties, even when controlling for duration of daily cannabis use, CUD, and age at first cannabis use. The schizophrenia PRS was most robustly associated with cannabis-related cognitive difficulties (β = 0.22, SE = 0.04, P = 5.2e−7). In an independent replication sample (N = 1446), associations between the schizophrenia PRS and cannabis-related experiences were in the expected direction and not statistically different in magnitude from those in the COGA sample. Conclusions Among individuals who regularly use cannabis, genetic liability for schizophrenia—even in those without clinical features—may increase the likelihood of reporting unusual experiences related to cannabis use.

The current study examined associations between cultural socialization and ethnic-racial identity via positive and negative conversations about one’s ethnicity/race. Ethnic-racial differences between Asian American, African American, Latinx, Multiracial, and White students were explored. College students 18–22 (M age = 18.46) participating in a university-wide study provided self-reports of childhood cultural socialization, engagement in conversations about ethnicity/race during college, and ethnic-racial identity. Cultural socialization was associated with more positive conversations about race, and, in turn, greater ethnic-racial identity exploration, resolution, and affirmation among all students. Additionally, among Multiracial and African American students, cultural socialization was associated with greater negative conversations about race and, in turn, less ethnic-racial identity affirmation. Although cultural socialization was not associated with negative conversations about race for Asian American, Latinx, or White students, the relation between greater negative conversations about race and less ethnic-racial identity affirmation was significant. Negative conversations about race also informed greater ethnic-racial identity exploration among all students, but was not associated with ethnic-racial identity resolution. The current study highlights the nuanced ways that childhood cultural socialization and conversations about one’s ethnicity/race influence college students’ ethnic-racial identity, both similarly and differently among Asian American, African American, Latinx, Multiracial, and White students. Two items created for the current study were used to assess positive and negative conversations about one’s ethnicity/race in the past month. Response options for the positive conversation item (“In the past month, I had conversations with someone about something positive about my ethnic-racial group.”) and negative conversation item (“In the past month, I had conversations with someone about something negative about my ethnic-racial group.”) were scored using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) Not at all to (5) Extremely or almost always. Higher scores indicated more frequent positive conversations and more frequent negative conversations, respectively. Initial support for the validity of the two items for positive and negative conversations about race has been provided by research with emerging adults (Delaney et al., in press).

Contains fulltext : 237013.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Behaviors and disorders related to self-regulation, such as substance use, antisocial behavior and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, are collectively referred to as externalizing and have shared genetic liability. We applied a multivariate approach that leverages genetic correlations among externalizing traits for genome-wide association analyses. By pooling data from ~1.5 million people, our approach is statistically more powerful than single-trait analyses and identifies more than 500 genetic loci. The loci were enriched for genes expressed in the brain and related to nervous system development. A polygenic score constructed from our results predicts a range of behavioral and medical outcomes that were not part of genome-wide analyses, including traits that until now lacked well-performing polygenic scores, such as opioid use disorder, suicide, HIV infections, criminal convictions and unemployment. Our findings are consistent with the idea that persistent difficulties in self-regulation can be conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental trait with complex and far-reaching social and health correlates. 27 p.

The current study tested whether COVID-19 disruptions and perceived discrimination were related to mental health (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms and emotional, psychological, and social well-being), and whether exercise moderated relations. Additionally, we tested whether findings varied by ethnicity/race. Participants were 368 African American and Asian American emerging adults ( Mage = 19.92, SD = .34). Findings did not vary by ethnicity/race. COVID-19 disruptions predicted poorer emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and more PTSD symptoms. Discrimination predicted more PTSD symptoms. Exercise was associated with better emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and moderated the relation between COVID-19 disruptions and emotional well-being. At low levels of exercise, COVID-19 disruptions predicted poorer emotional well-being, but this relation was not significant at high levels of exercise. Findings highlight that discrimination and disruptions during the pandemic negatively affect African American and Asian American emerging adults’ mental health, but that exercise plays an important protective role.

Objective To examine the prevalence and correlates of lifetime cannabis use (i.e., experimental [use 1-5 times] and non-experimental [use ≥ 6 times]) in relation to interpersonal trauma (IPT) above and beyond relevant covariates. Participants A large (n = 9,889) representative sample of college students at an urban university in the southeastern part of the United States. Methods Participants were 4 cohorts of first-year college students who completed measures of demographics, cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, and IPT. Associations were estimated using multinomial logistic regressions. Results The prevalence of lifetime cannabis use was 28.1% and 17.4% for non-experimental and experimental cannabis use, respectively. IPT was significantly associated with experimental and non-experimental cannabis use above and beyond effects of sex, race, cohort, alcohol, and nicotine. Conclusions Results show that cannabis use is prevalent among college students and is associated with IPT above and beyond associations with sex, race, and other substance use.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are phenotypically and genetically correlated with each other and with other psychological traits characterized by behavioral undercontrol, termed externalizing phenotypes. In this study, we used Genomic Structural Equation Modeling to explore the shared genetic architecture among six externalizing phenotypes and four SUDs used in two previous multivariate GWAS of an externalizing and an addiction risk factor, respectively. Using a preregistered set of criteria, we first evaluated the performance of five confirmatory factor analytic models, including a common factor model, alternative parameterizations of two-factor structures, and a bifactor model. We used a combination of model fit, factor reliability, and model characteristics to adjudicate among the models. We next explored the genetic correlations between factors identified in these models and other relevant psychological traits. We found that a common factor model, in which all externalizing phenotypes and SUDs were influenced by a single dimension of genetic risk best characterized the relationships among our phenotypes. Although two two-factor models also performed well, we found that the factors in those models were very highly correlated with each other (rgS > .87) and similarly genetically correlated with external criteria, suggesting they did not represent meaningfully distinct dimensions. Results from this study can be used to inform future efforts to characterize genetic liability for broad externalizing as well as specific externalizing phenotypes.

Genome-wide association studies aim to identify genetic variants that are associated with a disease phenotype in order to enhance precision medicine efforts. Despite the excitement surrounding the promise of precision medicine and interest among the public in accessing personalized genetic information, there has been little effort dedicated to understanding how complex genetic risk information could be incorporated into clinical practice to inform prevention, screening, and treatment. In this article, we briefly summarize the literature on the impact of receiving genetic risk information on health-related behavior, discuss the limitations of these studies, and outline the challenges that will need to be overcome, along with suggested next steps for future studies, to understand the true promise of precision medicine. The current literature demonstrates that there is no consistent or strong evidence that receiving complex genetic risk information, such as polygenic risk scores, has an impact on behavior; however, there are a number of limitations that may impact the failure to find significant effects associated with receiving genetic feedback. Behavior change is a complex process and simply providing genetic risk information without incorporating a theoretical perspective on behavior change diminishes the potential impact of receiving genetic risk information on actual behavior change. Future studies and interventions which return genetic feedback should be designed using theoretical frameworks of behavior change models to improve the impact of receiving personalized genetic information.The basis of precision medicine is to use an individual’s personal genetic information, such as a polygenic risk score, along with lifestyle information and personal medical history, to promote better health outcomes. The utility of polygenic risk scores relies on the assumption that receiving complex genetic feedback will motivate changes in behavior that reduces one’s risk for developing a medical condition. To date, there is no consistent or strong evidence that receiving complex genetic risk information, such as polygenic risk scores, influences behavior change. However, the literature on how to effectively deliver polygenic risk scores is small. Prior studies assessing the impact of receiving complex genetic risk information have several limitations that may impact the failure to find that individuals take action or change health behaviors after receiving genetic feedback. One way to address these limitations is to incorporate theories of behavior change, such as the Health Belief Model, into the way in which genetic risk information is returned. Designing intervention programs grounded in theories of behavior change and developing testable hypotheses related to theoretical mechanisms of change are important next steps.

ImportanceCharacterizing whether genetic variants for psychiatric outcomes operate via specific versus general pathways provides more informative measures of genetic risk, and, potentially, allows us to design more targeted prevention and interventions.ObjectiveEmploy multivariate methods to tease apart variants associated with problematic alcohol use through either general or specific pathways and compare results to standard univariate genetic analysis of problematic alcohol use.DesignWe compared results from a univariate genome wide association study (GWAS) of problematic alcohol use to those from a previous multivariate GWAS of externalizing phenotypes. We identified genetic variants associated with problematic alcohol use through a broad liability to externalizing, and those that remain after removing shared variance with externalizing. We compared these results across SNP overlap, bioannotations, genetic correlations, and polygenic scores.SettingWe included GWAS summary statistics from existing GWAS, and two US based hold out samples: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA).ParticipantsPublicly available GWAS of externalizing behaviors and participants in Add Health (N=5,107) and COGA (N=7,483), limited to individuals of European ancestries.Exposure(s)N/AMain Outcome(s) and Measure(s)Outcomes included problematic alcohol use (ALCP-O), shared risk for externalizing (EXT), and problematic alcohol use-specific risk (ALCP-S) for the GWASs; a preregistered list of 99 available phenotypes for genetic correlations; and substance use, substance use disorder criteria, and alcohol misuse in the polygenic score analyses.ResultsThe analysis differentiated SNPs operating through common versus specific risk pathways. While ALCP-O was associated with multiple phenotypes, ALCP-S was predominantly associated with alcohol use and other forms of psychopathology. Polygenic scores for ALCP-O were associated with a variety of other forms of substance use and substance use disorders, polygenic scores for ALCP-S were only associated with alcohol phenotypes. Polygenic scores for both ALCP-S and EXT show differential patterns of associations with alcohol misuse across development.Conclusions and RelevanceFocusing on the differential impacts of shared and specific risk can better characterize pathways of risk for alcohol use disorders. Multivariate methods can be a useful tool for studying many psychiatric conditions. Parsing risk pathways will become increasingly relevant as genetic information is incorporated into clinical practice for psychiatric outcomes.

The purpose of the current study was to test the role that components of ethnic identity (i.e., exploration and resolution) play in academic achievement, and to examine mental health, racial discrimination, and gender as moderators of these associations among Black college students. Participants included 341 college students who identified as a Black/African American female or male ( M age = 18.4; SD = .34), and completed measures of ethnic identity, perceived racial discrimination, and mental health. Results indicated that higher levels of ethnic identity exploration were associated with a lower grade point average (GPA) among males with higher levels of depressive symptoms, but not among males with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Similarly, higher levels of ethnic identity resolution were associated with a lower GPA among males with higher levels of anxiety symptoms, but not males with lower levels of anxiety symptoms. Findings may have implications for clinical and educational interventions by highlighting the nuanced ways that ethnic identity, mental health, and gender affect Black college students’ academic achievement.

Ethnic-racial identity (ERI) is associated with adaptive outcomes in emerging adulthood, but more research is needed on factors that may inform ERI, such as receiving one’s genetic ancestry results. The current study examined changes in ERI using a pre-test post-test design in which 116 emerging adults 18–25 years were randomly assigned to either receiving their genetic ancestry results before the post-test (the testing condition) or after post-test (the control condition). We also tested whether ethnicity/race and gender moderated these associations. Findings indicated that male students of color (SOC) in the testing condition experienced an increase in ERI affirmation from pre-test to post-test, and male SOC in the control condition experienced a decrease in ERI affirmation from pre-test to post-test. There were no significant differences in ERI affirmation change between students in the testing condition and control condition for female SOC, White males, or White females.

Genetic predispositions and environmental influences both play an important role in adolescent externalizing behavior; however, they are not always independent. To elucidate gene-environment interplay, we examined the interrelationships between externalizing polygenic risk scores, parental knowledge, and peer substance use in impacting adolescent externalizing behavior across two time-points in a high-risk longitudinal sample of 1,200 adolescents (764 European and 436 African ancestry; M(age) = 12.99) from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. Results from multivariate path analysis indicated that externalizing polygenic scores were directly associated with adolescent externalizing behavior but also indirectly via peer substance use, in the European ancestry sample. No significant polygenic association nor indirect effects of genetic risk were observed in the African ancestry group, likely due to more limited power. Our findings underscore the importance of gene-environment interplay and suggest peer substance use may be a mechanism through which genetic risk influences adolescent externalizing behavior.