News di Alcologia

Adolescenti più sbronzi se impulsivi
di Paola Battista

Secondo l'Università di Liverpool i giovani più istintivi sono più soggetti ad ubriacarsi in tenera età. Questi i risultati di uno studio che ha coinvolto 280 adolescenti britannici tra i 12 e i 13 anni, sottoposti a test per misurare il controllo inibitorio e la capacità di assumere rischi, monitorati per due anni. Cos'è emerso? I partecipanti con comportamenti più impulsivi tendevano ad alzare il gomito precocemente. Secondo lo studio, intervenire sulla personalità potrebbe rivelarsi un metodo efficace per prevenire l'abuso di alcol tra i giovanissimi, riducendo i rischi per la salute in età adulta.

Multiple behavioural impulsivity tasks predict prospective alcohol involvement in adolescents
Gordon Fernie, Margot Peeters, Matthew J. Gullo, Paul Christiansen, Jon C. Cole, Harry Sumnall, Matt Field
DOI: 10.1111/add.12283

Abstract

Aims
We investigated reciprocal prospective relationships between multiple behavioural impulsivity tasks (assessing delay discounting, risk-taking, and disinhibition) and alcohol involvement (consumption, drunkenness, and problems) among adolescents. We hypothesised that performance on the tasks would predict subsequent alcohol involvement, and that alcohol involvement would lead to increases in behavioural impulsivity over time.

Design
Cross-lagged prospective design in which impulsivity and alcohol involvement were assessed five times over two years (once every six months, on average).

Setting
Classrooms in secondary schools in North West England.

Participants
Two hundred and eighty seven adolescents (51% Male) who were aged 12 or 13 at study enrolment.

Methods
Participants reported their alcohol involvement and completed computerized tasks of disinhibition, delay discounting, and risk-taking at each assessment. Cross-sectional and prospective relationships between the variables of interest were investigated using cross-lagged analyses.

Results
All behavioural impulsivity tasks predicted a composite index of alcohol involvement six months later (all ps < .01), and these prospective relationships were reliable across the majority of time points. Importantly, we did not observe the converse relationship across time: alcohol involvement did not predict performance on behavioural impulsivity tasks at any subsequent time point.

Conclusions
Several measures of impulsivity predict escalation in alcohol involvement in young adolescents, but alcohol use does not appear to alter impulsivity.

(Articolo pubblicato dal CUFRAD sul sito www.alcolnews.it)