CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chaoyang District, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2017 Nov;41(11):1953-1960. doi: 10.1111/acer.13493. Epub 2017 Oct 11.
The co-occurrence of alcohol use and externalizing/internalizing problems threatens adolescents' mental health. Research on whether alcohol use and these problems are causal and the direction of the potential causal relationships is needed to understand the mechanisms of the co-occurrence.
A Mendelian randomization analysis was conducted in which the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) rs671 polymorphism was used as an instrumental variable for alcohol use phenotypes. In total, 1,608 Chinese adolescents (mean age 14.11 ± 1.83 years) were genotyped for the ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism. Three externalizing problems (aggression, delinquency, and attention problems) were measured with the Youth Self-Report inventory, and 2 internalizing problems (depression and anxiety) were measured with the self-reported Children's Depression Inventory and the Trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.
Alcohol use was positively associated with all 3 externalizing and 2 internalizing problems, and the ALDH2 polymorphism had a significant effect on alcohol use. Aggression and attention problems were also significantly affected by the ALDH2 polymorphism, whereas no significant association was observed between the ALDH2 polymorphism and delinquency, anxiety, or depression.
The results suggest that alcohol use is a cause of adolescent aggression and attention problems but not adolescent delinquency, anxiety, or depression.
酒精使用与外化/内化问题的同时发生威胁着青少年的心理健康。需要研究酒精使用和这些问题是否具有因果关系以及潜在因果关系的方向，以了解共发的机制。
进行了孟德尔随机化分析，其中乙醛脱氢酶 2 (ALDH2) rs671 多态性被用作酒精使用表型的工具变量。总共对 1608 名中国青少年（平均年龄 14.11±1.83 岁）进行了 ALDH2 rs671 多态性基因分型。使用青少年自评报告量表测量了 3 种外化问题（攻击、犯罪和注意力问题），使用儿童抑郁量表和状态-特质焦虑量表的特质分量表测量了 2 种内化问题（抑郁和焦虑）。
酒精使用与所有 3 种外化问题和 2 种内化问题呈正相关，并且 ALDH2 多态性对酒精使用有显著影响。攻击和注意力问题也受到 ALDH2 多态性的显著影响，而 ALDH2 多态性与犯罪、焦虑或抑郁之间没有显著关联。
结果表明，酒精使用是青少年攻击和注意力问题的原因，但不是青少年犯罪、焦虑或抑郁的原因。
