Effect of alcohol use on the adolescent brain and behavior PMC

A third study reported that white matter integrity effects were driven by heavy cannabis initiation (73). The right superior longitudinal fasciculus, connecting the frontoparietal-temporal networks, was the only consistent white matter tract across studies to show poorer white matter integrity among alcohol users compared to control. One of the studies investigating adolescent alcohol use and its effects is coordinated by the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA), which is conducting a multisite longitudinal study supported by funding from NIAAA and other National Institutes of Health partner institutes.

1. Researchers are starting to track these changes in short and longer-term effects using neural markers of substance use to better understand how an individual is responding to treatment (143).
2. Other programs that may offer treatment support include the National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health (NACBH) and the federal Health and Human Services Department (HHS), Office of Adolescent Health; this federal department provides online information specifically about adolescent alcohol abuse, with a list of treatment resources.
3. Future interventions may also consider improving accessibility to culturally-sensitive substance use treatment for racial and ethnic minority adolescents, as this is a promising approach to treating adolescents of diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
4. Second, differences between early adolescents and youth and adults are discussed with regard to differences in development, with particular reference to age-normative psychosocial tasks (e.g., puberty, friendship formation) and to brain development that uniquely occurs during this phase of the lifespan.

In her review of the literature on stress effects on alcohol consumption in humans, Pohorecky (1991) found that stress clearly influences alcohol consumption in adolescence, but not necessarily in adults. Indeed, the level of perceived stress was found to be the most powerful predictor of adolescent alcohol and other drug use, after peer substance use (Wagner 1993). The percentage of adolescents reporting substance use in 2022 easy bruising: why does it happen largely held steady after significantly declining in 2021, according to the latest results from the Monitoring the Future survey of substance use behaviors and related attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders in the United States. Reported use for almost all substances decreased dramatically from 2020 to 2021 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related changes like school closures and social distancing.

The 2022 Monitoring the Future data tables highlighting the survey results are available online from the University of Michigan. She’s passionate about empowering readers to take care of their mental and physical health through science-based, empathetically delivered information. If you think your teen may not feel comfortable talking with you, perhaps guide them toward another trusted adult, such as an aunt, uncle, family friend, or community leader, with whom they have a good relationship. If you’re worried about your teen using alcohol, it may be tempting to take an extremely strict approach or overemphasize the risks of alcohol use. Regardless of the cause of someone’s AUD, it’s important that they receive the treatment and support they need to feel better.

High-Risk Substance Use Among Youth

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a strategy by which clinicians help to elicit behavioral change by targeting ambivalence and enhancing internal motivation of an individual, which can lead to a greater recognition of substance use problems and improve help-seeking [29]. Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) utilizes the same principles of motivational interviewing, however it is delivered in a more structured, manualized way. There has been mixed evidence regarding MI and MET as stand-alone approaches for effecting long-term reductions in adolescent substance use, although they are currently best described as probably efficacious in treating adolescent SUDs [9]. There is mixed evidence regarding the effectiveness of standalone motivational-based interviews compared to standard practices of information provision or assessment in reducing alcohol or cannabis use, but other outcomes such as changes in attitude regarding substance use treatment favor MI and MET [30, 31]. Other studies have suggested potential efficacy of MI when combined with other treatment modalities such as family interventions, acceptance and commitment therapy, and contingency management [22, 23].

White Matter Volume and Integrity

Multiwave prospective studies allow for the characterization of both individual and group trajectories of alcohol use in terms of characteristics such as overall level, rate of escalation, age at peak use, and rate of decline. Researchers need more information about the hormonal, behavioral, and neural interactions that take place in response to stress during adolescence. Understanding why young people use alcohol to cope with stress within a developmental timeframe also is important. The relationship between stress and adult drinking may be far different from the relationship between these variables in adolescence, the time when most people begin drinking.

Alcohol’s Effects on Adolescents

Between October and December 2022, the study team called the facilities in a random order and confirmed that 160 (45%) of these facilities provided residential treatment to patients under the age of 18. Injecting drugs with shared needles increases the risk of contracting HIV, hepatitis understanding powerlessness and acceptance in early recovery B, and hepatitis C. Addiction happens when cravings don’t stop, withdrawal occurs without the substance, and use continues even when there are negative consequences. Since the physical and mental urge to use is so strong, it becomes very hard to stop using a substance.

Harvard Health Publishing

These nuanced tools will help improve the accuracy and reliability of reports to better quantify the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed. Better neuroimaging standards, such as scanning under neutral conditions to control for factors like time since last alcohol use, and more consistency in measures used to assess cognitive functioning are also suggested as an area of future research. As noted previously with neurodevelopment trajectories, gender differences are also reported in alcohol use estimates. Worldwide estimates of alcohol use also show higher rates of drinking occur among young males than females (33).

This increase is largely attributed to illicit fentanyl, a potent synthetic drug, contaminating the supply of counterfeit pills made to resemble prescription medications. Our findings showed that gender differences may exist in the determinants of alcohol consumption among young adolescents. They will contribute to the development of public health policies and actions for the most vulnerable adolescents, which should what’s the difference between a hangover alcohol poisoning take gender differences into account. At the present time, society’s aim of curtailing youthful drinking is implemented by legal prohibition, using an approach that is both binary (legal or not) and categorical (based on a simple age classification). As discussed above, this relatively simple approach to regulating adolescent access to alcohol has been shown to be effective in reducing some forms of problem drinking.

In many ways, the field has yet to address adequately the challenge of Baumrind and Moselle85 from 2 decades ago regarding the need to document fully the negative effects of alcohol and other drug use on developmental tasks. However, there has been some recognition that, in addition to the destructive aspects, there are potential constructive aspects (from the young person’s perspective) of alcohol use. A more-comprehensive understanding of the destructive and constructive aspects of alcohol use in terms of developmental tasks during late adolescence and early adulthood is needed to advance etiologic research and prevention efforts. A recent review summarized potentially pre-existing neurobiological markers of alcohol use in humans (5).

When tested using measures such as alcohol-induced sedation (Silveri & Spear, 1998, 2002) and social inhibition (Varlinskaya & Spear, 2006), adolescent rats often exhibit notable acute tolerance under test conditions that do not support expression of acute tolerance in adults. This rapid adaptation, however, does not appear to be solely responsive for the attenuated alcohol sensitivities of adolescents, given that disruption expression of acute tolerance in adolescents by blocking NMDA receptors does not eliminate age differences in alcohol sensitivity (Silveri & Spear, 2002; Silveri & Spear, 2004). Positive studies have found that texting and web-based interventions can effectively reduce risky drinking and drinking frequency as well as lessen existing substance use [76, 82].

Additional research is needed to understand the complexities involved in these higher levels of use among sexual-minority youth. It also is clear that as globalization continues, alcohol use and misuse among early adolescents and youth is becoming more pervasive and impacting youth internationally. A number of characteristics distinguish adolescent from adult drinking, including a higher number of drinks per occasion by adolescents, different sensitivities to the effects of alcohol on adolescents and adults, and developmental differences in psychosocial tasks and brain development. Applying this information about differences between adolescents and adults will be helpful in directing future etiologic and intervention research because it will facilitate a focus on unique biological, psychological, and social factors that may affect the success of efforts to reduce alcohol use among early adolescents and youth.

Multiple types of programs, from education-based school programs48 to risk or skill remediation programs49 and even community-wide programs,50 have been developed. Despite 3 decades of research, these prevention efforts still show mixed effectiveness.51 Those that seem most promising operate at multiple levels of intervention.50 One way to increase effectiveness might be to tailor these approaches by using information on cognitive changes in late childhood and adolescence. Historically, most treatment programs for individuals with substance use disorders have been designed and validated with homogenous, predominantly white youth [91]. Adolescents of diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds vary in risk factors, patterns of use, response to treatment, and consequences of substance use [92]. Research in the last three years has added to our understanding of the importance of tailoring adolescent SUD treatment within a culturally sensitive context.

Likewise, further examination of how stress, anxiety, and depression interact in this age group is important. Though most children navigate this transitional period without serious problems, about one-third to one-half of adolescents report significant depressed mood or affective disturbances that could be described as “inner turmoil” or “feeling miserable” (Compas et al. 1995; Rutter et al. 1976). Adolescents also tend to show greater extremes in mood than adults (for a review, see Larson and Richards 1994; Arnett 1999); in addition to this emotional volatility, anxiety and self-consciousness also appear to peak at this time (see Buchanan et al. 1992). Research has improved our understanding of factors that help buffer youth from a variety of risky behaviors, including substance use. Youth with substance use disorders also experience higher rates of physical and mental illnesses, diminished overall health and well-being, and potential progression to addiction.