Trends in adolescent alcohol use: effects of age, sex and cohort on prevalence and heritability

• Published in: Addiction (Abingdon, England) Vol. 107; no. 3; pp. 518 - 527
• Main Authors: Geels, Lot M., Bartels, Meike, van Beijsterveldt, Toos C. E. M., Willemsen, Gonneke, van der Aa, Niels, Boomsma, Dorret I., Vink, Jacqueline M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-03-2012; Blackwell
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age Distribution; Age Groups; Alcohol; Alcohol Abuse; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - genetics; Alcohol use; Alcoholism; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Architecture; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort analysis; cohort study; environmental influence; Female; Females; Genetics; Heredity; heritability; Humans; Individual Differences; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Netherlands; Netherlands - epidemiology; Prevalence; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Sample Size; Sex Distribution; Surveys; Teenagers; Toxicology; Trends; twins; Twins, Dizygotic - statistics & numerical data; Twins, Monozygotic - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult; Netherlands; Human; Consumption; environmental influence; Drug addiction; Prevalence; alcohol use; Alcoholism; Sex; Trend; Environmental factor; Twin; Alcoholic beverage; twins; Addiction; Cohort study; Adolescent; Heritability; Adolescents; Age; Public health
• ISSN: 0965-2140; 1360-0443
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03612.x

ABSTRACT
Aims  To determine the effect of age, sex and cohort on the prevalence and genetic architecture of adolescent alcohol use (AAU).
Design  Survey study in participants registered with the Netherlands Twin Register.
Setting  Twins from the general population.
Participants  Two cohorts (data collected in 1993 and 2005–08) of twins aged 13–15, 16–17 and 18–21 years. In 1993 and 2005–08 a total of 3269 and 8207 twins, respectively, took part.
Measurements  Survey data on initiation and frequency of alcohol use and quantity of alcohol consumed.
Findings  The prevalence of alcohol initiation increased between 1993 and 2005–08 for both males and females. The largest difference was for girls observed at ages 13–15, where the prevalence increased from 59.5% to 72.4%. We also found increases in prevalence across cohorts for quantity of alcohol consumed and non‐significant increases for frequency of alcohol use. From age 16 onwards, boys drank more frequently and larger quantities than girls. Genetic model fitting revealed that the genetic architecture of AAU did not differ between birth cohorts, nor were there differences between boys and girls. Genetic factors explained between 21% and 55% of individual differences in alcohol measures throughout adolescence. Shared environment explained between 17% and 64% of variance in alcohol use, across different age groups and alcohol measures.
Conclusions  In the Netherlands, the prevalence of alcohol initiation, frequency and quantity has increased in adolescents over a 15‐year period, but there are no changes in the genetic architecture of adolescent alcohol use.