Associations between adolescent alcohol use and neurocognitive functioning in young adulthood

Abstract

This study examined the associations between excessive alcohol intake during adolescence and neurocognitive functioning in young adulthood and whether these relations varied by sex. Participants were working-class Chilean adolescents (N = 692; M_age 16.0 years; 54.5% female) who provided frequency of past 30-day bingeing and past-year intoxication. Neurocognitive measures were completed in young adulthood (M_age 21.2 years). Illicit substance users were excluded a priori and other substance use was controlled. When males and females were considered simultaneously, no main effects of intoxication or bingeing were found. However, several sex-specific effects emerged for intoxication, such that more frequent intoxication was associated with poorer visual memory, attention, processing speed, response inhibition, and cognitive flexibility in females, while frequent intoxication related to better attention and processing speed in males. In general, effect sizes were small. No relations emerged for verbal memory, working memory, or spatial learning. Possible factors that contribute to divergent sex effects are discussed.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant R01-DA021181, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grants R03-HD097295 and R01-HD033487, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant R01-HL088530, the University of California, San Diego Health Sciences grant BG102543, and Chile's National Agency for Research and Development - Millennium Institutes grant NCS2021-013.