Drinking Against Unpleasant Emotions: Possible Outcome of Early Onset of Alcohol Use?

  1. Arlette F. Buchmann,
  2. Brigitte Schmid,
  3. Dorothea Blomeyer,
  4. Ulrich S. Zimmermann,
  5. Christine Jennen-Steinmetz,
  6. Martin H. Schmidt,
  7. Günter Esser,
  8. Tobias Banaschewski,
  9. Karl Mann,
  10. Manfred Laucht

Article first published online: 5 APR 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01180.x

Issue

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Volume 34, Issue 6, pages 1052–1057, June 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Buchmann, A. F., Schmid, B., Blomeyer, D., Zimmermann, U. S., Jennen-Steinmetz, C., Schmidt, M. H., Esser, G., Banaschewski, T., Mann, K. and Laucht, M. (2010), Drinking Against Unpleasant Emotions: Possible Outcome of Early Onset of Alcohol Use?. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34: 1052–1057. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01180.x

Author Information

  1. From the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (AFB, BS, DB, MHS, TB, ML), Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (USZ), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine (AFB, USZ, KM), Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; Department Biostatistics (CJ-S), Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; and Department of Psychology (GE, ML), Division of Clinical Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.

*Reprint requests: Manfred Laucht, PhD, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, J 5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany; Tel: +49 621/1703-4903; Fax: +49 621/1703-1205; E-mail: manfred.laucht@zi-mannheim.de

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 25 MAY 2010
  2. Article first published online: 5 APR 2010
  3. Received for publication July 3, 2009; accepted January 20, 2010.

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Keywords:

  • Age at First Drink;
  • Drinking to Cope;
  • Adolescence;
  • Longitudinal Study

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.

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