The association between reinforcement sensitivity and substance use is mediated by individual differences in dispositional affectivity in adolescents

Self-regulation profiles in addictive behaviors among adolescents: A transdiagnostic approach

Dual-pathway models suggest that poor self-regulation (immature regulatory combined with strong reactive processes) is an important factor underlying addictive behaviors among adolescents. This study examined whether there are different self-regulation profiles among community adolescents, and how these profiles are related to the presence, severity and comorbidity of different addictive behaviors. A community sample of 341 adolescents (54.5% female; 13-17 years) was recruited. Participants self-reported on regulatory (inhibitory control) and reactive (reward and punishment sensitivity) processes, as well as on different addictive behaviors (binge eating, tobacco-, cannabis- and alcohol use, gaming, gambling and pathological buying). A model-based clustering analysis found evidence for three meaningful profiles: 'impulsive/under-controlled', 'anxious' and 'protective'. The 'impulsive/under-controlled' profile was characterized by the highest prevalence and severity of cannabis use and the most severe alcohol use. The 'impulsive/under-controlled' and 'protective' profiles demonstrated the highest prevalence and severity of tobacco use, whereas the 'impulsive/under-controlled' and 'anxious' profiles showed the highest binge eating scores. Adolescents who reported more than three types of addictive behaviors generally belonged to the 'impulsive/under-controlled' profile. The profiles did not differ for gaming, gambling and pathological buying. The 'impulsive/under-controlled' profile emerged as the most vulnerable profile in the context of addictive behaviors (especially for binge eating and substance use).

Prospective Pathways from Affect to Drug Outcomes: Refusal Self-Efficacy in the Context of Peer Influences

Objective: Non-alcohol drug (NAD) use and its associated consequences remain a prevalent problem among young adults. Both positive and negative affect play etiological roles in NAD. The perception of one's ability to refuse a drug in different situations (drug refusal self-efficacy) could be an important mediator between such affect and NAD outcomes (use and consequences). This study examined mediational pathways from affect to NAD use and NAD-related consequences via drug refusal self-efficacy. We also examined the moderating role of normative perceptions of peer NAD involvement. Method: Across three time points (September, February, April) of their first college year, students (N = 355) completed an online self-report questionnaire to assess affect, refusal self-efficacy, NAD use frequency, NAD-related problems, and peer norms. Data were analyzed using longitudinal structural path models. Results: Refusal of self-efficacy for situations involving negative affect significantly mediated the relationship between negative affect and NAD use but not consequences, supporting a negative reinforcement pathway. Greater perceptions of peer drug use moderated the mediated negative reinforcement pathway. No significant pathways were found for the refusal self-efficacy positive reinforcement pathways. Conclusions: This study provides support for a negative reinforcement pathway to NAD use in which refusal self-efficacy plays an important mechanistic role. These findings may have implications for intervention, as targeting refusal self-efficacy for those with NAD use and addressing peer influences could be helpful in reducing NAD risk. Replication of these findings and extension using daily assessment and more fine-grained assessment of individual NAD types will be important next steps.

The domain-variant indirect association between electrophysiological response to reward and ADHD presentations is moderated by dopaminergic polymorphisms

BACKGROUND

Understanding the etiopathogenesis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may necessitate decomposition of the heterogeneous clinical phenotype into more homogeneous intermediate phenotypes. Reinforcement sensitivity is a promising candidate, but the exact nature of the ADHD-reward relation - including how, for whom, and to which ADHD dimensions atypicalities in reward processing are relevant - is equivocal.

METHODS

Aims were to examine, in a carefully phenotyped sample of adolescents (N = 305; Mage = 15.30 years, SD = 1.07; 39.7% girls), whether functional dopaminergic polymorphisms implicated in both reward processing and ADHD (1) are differentially associated with event-related potentials (ERPs) of reward anticipation at distinct levels of ADHD risk (nno risk = 174, nat-risk = 131, ndiagnosed = 83); and (2) moderate the indirect effect of dispositional affectivity on the association between ERPs and ADHD domains.

RESULTS

In adolescents at-risk for or with ADHD, carrying a hypodopaminergic allele was associated with enhanced ERPs of attention allocation to cue and attenuated ERPs of anticipatory attention to feedback. No associations were observed in adolescents not at-risk for or without ADHD. Controlling for age and sex, both the negative indirect effect of positive affectivity (PA) on the association between ERPs and inattention and the positive indirect effect of PA on the association between ERPs and hyperactivity/impulsivity were supported only for those with high activity dopamine transporter (DAT) alleles.

CONCLUSIONS

Reward and affective processing are promising intermediate phenotypes relevant to disentangling ADHD developmental pathways. Consistent with developmental multifinality, through the successive effects of reward anticipation and positive affectivity, functional dopaminergic variants may confer protection against inattention or risk for hyperactivity/impulsivity.

Drinking alcohol by mid-adolescence is related to reduced reward reactivity: Novel evidence of positive valence system alterations in early initiating female youth

Initiation of alcohol use at younger ages is prognostic of later drinking problems. Reward system dysfunction is theorized to contribute to early initiation and escalation of drinking, but existing evidence supports both hyposensitivity and hypersensitivity as risk-markers; research employing effective indices of reward processing is needed for clarification. The reward positivity (RewP) is a well-established neurophysiological index of hedonic "liking," an important aspect of reward processing. Adult research has yielded conflicting findings, with different studies reporting reduced, enhanced, or null associations of RewP with engagement in or risk for harmful alcohol use. No study has examined relations between RewP and multiple indices of drinking in youth. Here, we examined how RewP measured in a gain/loss feedback task related to self-reported drinking initiation and past-month drinking, when accounting for age along with depression and externalizing symptoms, in 250 mid-adolescent females. Analyses showed that (1) compared to not-yet drinkers, adolescents endorsing drinking initiation responded less strongly to monetary gain (RewP) but not loss feedback (FN), and (2) past-month drinking was unrelated to both RewP and FN magnitude. These findings provide evidence for reduced hedonic "liking" as a concomitant of early drinking initiation in adolescent females and warrant further research with mixed-sex adolescent samples exhibiting greater drinking variability.

Concurrent and Prospective Associations of Reward Response with Affective and Alcohol Problems: ADHD-Related Differential Vulnerability

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous disorder. Data on the role of transdiagnostic, intermediate phenotypes in ADHD-relevant characteristics and outcomes are needed to advance conceptual understanding and approaches to precision psychiatry. Specifically, the extent to which the association between neural response to reward and ADHD-associated affective, externalizing, internalizing, and substance use problems differ depending on ADHD status is unknown. Aims were to examine, in 129 adolescents, whether concurrent and prospective associations of fMRI-measured initial response to reward attainment (relative to loss) with affectivity and externalizing, internalizing, and alcohol use problems differs between youth at-risk for (i.e., subclinical) (n = 50) and not at-risk for ADHD. Adolescents were, on average, 15.29 years old (SD = 1.00; 38% female), 50 were at-risk for (M_age = 15.18 years, SD = 1.04; 22% female) and 79 not at-risk for (M_age = 15.37 years, SD = 0.98; 48.1% female) ADHD. Both concurrent and prospective relations differed given ADHD risk: across analyses, in at-risk youth, greater superior frontal gyrus response was associated with lower concurrent depressive problems but in not at-risk youth, these characteristics were not related. Controlling for baseline use, in at-risk youth, greater putamen response was associated with greater 18-month hazardous alcohol use, whereas in not at-risk youth, greater putamen response was associated with lower use. Where in brain and for which outcomes modulate (direction of) observed relations: superior frontal gyrus response is relevant for depressive problems whereas putamen response is relevant for alcohol problems and greater neural responsivity is linked to less depressive but to more alcohol problems in adolescents at-risk for ADHD and less alcohol problems in adolescents not at-risk. Differences in neural response to reward differentially confer vulnerability for adolescent depressive and alcohol problems depending on ADHD risk.

The Association Between Prenatal Maternal Stress and Adolescent Affective Outcomes is Mediated by Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Behavioral Inhibition System Sensitivity

Prenatal maternal stress is linked to offspring outcomes; however, there is little research on adolescents, behavioral, transdiagnostic outcomes, or the mechanisms through which relations operate. We examined, in N = 268 adolescents (Mage = 15.31 years; SD = 1.063; 57.8% boys) whether prenatal maternal stress is associated with adolescent affective outcomes; whether this association is mediated, serially, by childhood home atmosphere and adolescent behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity; and whether mediational effects are moderated by adolescent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or maternal internalizing symptomology. Prenatal maternal daily stress and major life events were associated with adolescent outcomes through childhood negative atmosphere/neglect and BIS sensitivity, with no evidence of moderation. Results have implications regarding the effect of prenatal maternal stress on offspring outcomes and regarding corresponding sensitive periods.

Behavioral inhibition and approach tendencies are associated with striatal activation to loss: Implications for adolescent substance use

Behavioral inhibition/avoidance and approach systems (BIS/BAS), which facilitate avoidance of aversive stimuli and approach of enticing stimuli, are thought to underlie engagement in substance use (SU). However, little is known about the neural correlates of these systems, particularly in adolescence. The current study examined associations between BIS/BAS tendencies and neural response to reward and loss and then examined whether there was an indirect effect of BIS/BAS on later SU initiation through these neural responses. 79 12-14 year olds underwent fMRI at baseline during a card guessing task. Adolescents reported on their BIS/BAS at baseline and on their SU at baseline and through a 3-year follow-up period. Results showed that higher BIS was associated with lower striatal activation and higher BAS with higher striatal activation to monetary loss. BIS and BAS were not associated with neural activation to monetary reward. There was no support that BIS or BAS predicted SU initiation through striatal activation to monetary loss. Overall, these results may suggest that adolescents with the tendency to avoid aversive stimuli assign less salience and adolescents with the tendency to approach enticing stimuli assign more salience to monetary loss.

A Network Analysis of the Relationships Between Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Systems and Problematic Mobile Phone Use

Background

It is of great concern to society that individuals can be vulnerable to problematic mobile phone use (PMPU). However, there are a few studies in the field evaluating associations between behavioral inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS) and PMPU, and the results have been inconsistent. This study aimed to explore the relationships between BIS/BAS and PMPU by network analysis.

Methods

A total of 891 young adults participated in the study. BIS/BAS and PMPU were assessed by using the behavioral inhibition and activation systems scale and smartphone application-based addiction scale, respectively. The structure of the BIS/BAS-PMPU network was characterized using "strength," "closeness" and "betweenness" as centrality indices. Edge-weight accuracy and centrality stability were tested using a bootstrap procedure.

Results

The network analysis showed that "mood modification," "tolerance" and "withdrawal symptoms" had high centrality. In addition, the positive connection between BIS and "mood modification" or "tolerance" and between BAS-fun seeking and "mood modification" or "conflict" were also shown in the BIS/BAS-PMPU network.

Conclusion

These findings shed light on the central and bridge components between the BIS/BAS and PMPU communities, providing new evidence relevant to potential mechanisms that account for how high-BIS or high-BAS individuals develop PMPU, and inspiring component-based PMPU prevention or interventions.