Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1563, USA.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2011 Oct;19(5):361-70. doi: 10.1037/a0024412.
The relationship between risk-taking behavior and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms is poorly understood. This study employed a modified version of a behavioral measure of risk-taking, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), to examine its relationship to alcohol use and related symptoms in a community sample of individuals with or at risk for AUD. A total of 158 (71.9% male) participants completed a testing battery that included the BART, a structured diagnostic interview for AUD, and measures of alcohol use and related problems. Estimates of IQ and working memory were assessed as covariates. Results indicated that the relationship between risk-taking propensity, as assessed by the BART, and alcohol problems was significant and negative. Individuals with higher symptom count made fewer pumps per trial on the BART, indicating less risk-taking. It is important to note that this relationship was attenuated when controlling for estimated IQ and working memory span. Further examination demonstrated that IQ and age mediated the relationship between risk-taking propensity and symptom count. The main negative relationship observed between risk-taking on the BART and alcohol use and AUD symptomatology in this sample stands in contrast to the positive relationships observed in adolescent and nonclinical samples. Together, these findings highlight the need to consider development and the course of addiction to fully elucidate the effects of risky-decision making on AUD liability. Furthermore, our results demonstrate the importance of inclusion of neurocognitive covariates (IQ), as well as demographic variables (age) when using this task.
冒险行为与酒精使用障碍（AUD）症状之间的关系尚未得到充分理解。本研究采用了一种改良的风险行为行为测量方法，即气球模拟风险任务（BART），来检验其与 AUD 患者或高危人群的酒精使用和相关症状之间的关系。共有 158 名（71.9%为男性）参与者完成了一个测试组合，其中包括 BART、AUD 的结构化诊断访谈，以及酒精使用和相关问题的测量。智商和工作记忆的估计值被评估为协变量。结果表明，BART 评估的冒险倾向与酒精问题之间的关系是显著的且呈负相关。症状计数较高的个体在 BART 每个试验中的泵数较少，表明冒险行为较少。值得注意的是，当控制估计的智商和工作记忆广度时，这种关系会减弱。进一步的研究表明，智商和年龄介导了冒险倾向与症状计数之间的关系。在这个样本中，BART 上的冒险行为与酒精使用和 AUD 症状之间观察到的主要负相关与在青少年和非临床样本中观察到的正相关形成鲜明对比。这些发现共同强调了需要考虑发展和成瘾过程，以充分阐明冒险决策对 AUD 易感性的影响。此外，我们的结果表明，在使用此任务时，包括神经认知协变量（智商）和人口统计学变量（年龄）非常重要。
