BackgroundWhether emotional problems during childhood and adolescence are longitudinally associated with adult alcohol use behaviors is unclear. This study examined associations between developmental trajectories of emotional problems and early adult alcohol use behaviors, while considering co‐occurring conduct problems, developmental change/timing, sex differences, and potential confounds.MethodsParticipants were from the Twins Early Development Study (analytic N = 19,908 individuals). Emotional and conduct problems were measured by parent reports at child ages 4, 7, and 9 years and via self‐reports at ages 9, 11, and 16 years on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Alcohol use behaviors (alcohol consumption and alcohol‐related problems) were self‐reported by the twins on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test at age 22 years. Piecewise latent growth curve models described nonlinear developmental trajectories of emotional and conduct problems from ages 4 to 16. At age 22, alcohol use was regressed on emotional and conduct problems' intercepts and slopes from piecewise latent growth curve model and sex differences in regression coefficients were tested. Using twin modeling, Cholesky decompositions and direct path models were compared to test whether significant phenotypic associations were best explained by direct phenotypic influences or correlated genetic and environmental influences.ResultsEmotional problems had different associations with alcohol‐related problems versus alcohol consumption. After accounting for direct influences from conduct problems, emotional problems were not associated with alcohol‐related problems, while emotional problems at age 9 were negatively associated with alcohol consumption in males.ConclusionsOverall, findings did not support emotional problems as prospective risk factors for severe alcohol use above and beyond risks associated with conduct problems. Sex‐ and age‐specific links between emotional problems and alcohol consumption in early adulthood may be worthy of further exploration, particularly as twin analyses improved our confidence that such links may be underpinned by causal mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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儿童和青少年情绪问题的发展轨迹：与成年早期饮酒行为的关联


背景尚不清楚儿童期和青春期的情绪问题是否与成人饮酒行为纵向相关。这项研究探讨了情绪问题的发展轨迹与成年早期饮酒行为之间的关联，同时考虑了同时发生的行为问题、发展变化/时间、性别差异和潜在的混淆。方法参与者来自双胞胎早期发展研究（分析性研究）氮= 19,908 人）。情绪和行为问题通过 4、7 和 9 岁儿童的家长报告以及 9、11 和 16 岁儿童的优势和困难问卷自我报告来衡量。双胞胎在 22 岁时通过酒精使用障碍识别测试自我报告了饮酒行为（饮酒和酒精相关问题）。分段潜在增长曲线模型描述了 4 至 16 岁情绪和行为问题的非线性发展轨迹。22 岁时，酒精使用量根据分段潜在增长曲线模型对情绪和行为问题的截距和斜率进行了回归，回归系数的性别差异为已测试。使用双胞胎模型，比较乔列斯基分解和直接路径模型，以测试显着的表型关联是否最好通过直接表型影响或相关的遗传和环境影响来解释。结果情绪问题与酒精相关问题和饮酒之间的关联不同。 在考虑了行为问题的直接影响后，情绪问题与行为问题无关。酒精相关问题，而 9 岁时的情绪问题与饮酒量结论总体而言，研究结果并不支持情绪问题作为严重饮酒的前瞻性风险因素，超出了与行为问题相关的风险。情绪问题与成年早期饮酒之间的性别和年龄特异性联系可能值得进一步探索，特别是当双胞胎分析提高了我们的信心时，这种联系可能是由因果机制支撑的。