Homman Lina E, Edwards Alexis C, Cho Seung Bin, Dick Danielle M, Kendler Kenneth S
a Institute of Clinical Sciences, Queens University Belfast , Belfast , United Kingdom.
b Department of Psychiatry , Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond , Virginia , USA.
Subst Use Misuse. 2017 Mar 21;52(4):429-438. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2016.1233983. Epub 2016 Nov 16.
Alcohol problems and internalizing symptoms are consistently found to be associated but how they relate to each other is unclear.
The present study aimed to address limitations in the literature of comorbidity of alcohol problems and internalizing symptoms by investigating the direction of effect between the phenotypes and possible gender differences in college students.
We utilized data from a large longitudinal study of college students from the United States (N = 2607). Three waves of questionnaire-based data were collected over the first two years of college (in 2011-2013). Cross-lagged models were applied to examine the possible direction of effect of internalizing symptoms and alcohol problems. Possible effects of gender were investigated using multigroup modeling.
There were significant correlations between alcohol problems and internalizing symptoms. A direction of effect was found between alcohol problems and internalizing symptoms but differed between genders. A unidirectional relationship varying with age was identified for males where alcohol problems initially predicted internalizing symptoms followed by internalizing symptoms predicting alcohol problems. For females, a unidirectional relationship existed wherein alcohol problems predicted internalizing symptoms. Conclusions/Importance: We conclude that the relationship between alcohol problems and internalizing symptoms is complex and differ between genders. In males, both phenotypes are predictive of each other, while in females the relationship is driven by alcohol problems. Importantly, our study examines a population-based sample, revealing that the observed relationships between alcohol problems and internalizing symptoms are not limited to individuals with clinically diagnosed mental health or substance use problems.
酒精问题与内化症状一直被发现存在关联，但它们之间的相互关系尚不清楚。
本研究旨在通过调查大学生中这些表型之间的影响方向以及可能存在的性别差异，解决酒精问题与内化症状共病文献中的局限性。
我们使用了来自美国一项针对大学生的大型纵向研究的数据（N = 2607）。在大学的前两年（2011 - 2013年）收集了三轮基于问卷的数据。应用交叉滞后模型来检验内化症状和酒精问题可能的影响方向。使用多组模型研究性别的可能影响。
酒精问题与内化症状之间存在显著相关性。在酒精问题和内化症状之间发现了影响方向，但性别之间存在差异。在男性中确定了一种随年龄变化的单向关系，即酒精问题最初预测内化症状，随后内化症状预测酒精问题。对于女性，存在一种单向关系，即酒精问题预测内化症状。结论/重要性：我们得出结论，酒精问题与内化症状之间的关系是复杂的，且存在性别差异。在男性中，两种表型相互预测，而在女性中，这种关系由酒精问题驱动。重要的是，我们的研究考察了一个基于人群的样本，表明观察到的酒精问题与内化症状之间的关系并不局限于临床诊断有心理健康或物质使用问题的个体。
