TY - JOUR A1 - Buchmann, Arlette F. A1 - Schmid, Brigitte A1 - Blomeyer, Dorothea A1 - Zimmermann, Ulrich S. A1 - Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Mann, Karl F. A1 - Laucht, Manfred T1 - Drinking against unpleasant emotions : possible outcome of early onset of alcohol use? N2 - Background: Recent animal and human studies indicate that the exposure to alcohol during early adolescence increases the risk for heavy alcohol use in response to stress. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this effect may be the consequence of a higher susceptibility to develop "drinking to cope" motives among early initiators. Methods: Data from 320 participants were collected as part of the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, an ongoing epidemiological cohort study. Structured interviews at age 15 and 19 were used to assess age at first alcohol experience and drunkenness. The young adults completed questionnaires to obtain information about the occurrence of stressful life events during the past 4 years and current drinking habits. In addition, alcohol use under conditions of negative states was assessed with the Inventory of Drinking Situations. Results: The probability of young adults' alcohol use in situations characterized by unpleasant emotions was significantly increased the earlier they had initiated the use of alcohol, even when controlling for current drinking habits and stressful life events. Similar results were obtained for the age at first drunkenness. Conclusions: The findings strengthen the hypothesis that alcohol experiences during early adolescence facilitate drinking to regulate negative affect as an adverse coping strategy which may represent the starting point of a vicious circle comprising drinking to relieve stress and increased stress as a consequence of drinking. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1530-0277 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01180.x SN - 0145-6008 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Becker, Katja A1 - Blomeyer, Dorothea A1 - El-Faddagh, Mahha A1 - Esser, Günter A1 - Schmidt, Martin H. A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Laucht, Manfred T1 - From regulatory problems in infancy to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in childhood : a moderating role for the dopamine D4 receptor gene? N2 - To examine whether the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) exon III VNTR moderates the risk of infants with regulatory disorders for developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) later in childhood. In a prospective longitudinal study of children at risk for later psychopathology, 300 participants were assessed for regulatory problems in infancy, DRD4 genotype, and ADHD symptoms and diagnoses from childhood to adolescence. To examine a potential moderating effect on ADHD measures, linear and logistic regressions were computed. Models were fit for the main effects of the DRD4 genotype (presence or absence of the 7r allele) and regulatory problems (presence or absence), with the addition of the interaction term. All models were controlled for sex, family adversity, and obstetric risk status. In children without the DRD4-7r allele, a history of regulatory problems in infancy was unrelated to later ADHD. But in children with regulatory problems in infancy, the additional presence of the DRD4-7r allele increased the risk for ADHD in childhood. The DRD4 genotype seems to moderate the association between regulatory problems in infancy and later ADHD. A replication study is needed before further conclusions can be drawn, however. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00223476 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.12.005 SN - 0022-3476 ER -