Journal
DRUG AND ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE
Volume 204, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.04.044
Keywords
Generalized anxiety disorder; Alcohol; Drinking-To-Cope; ALSPAC; Longitudinal
Categories
Funding
- University of Bristol MRC Addiction Research Clinical Training program (MARC)
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol
- MRC IEU [MC_UU_00011/7]
- MRC
- Alcohol Research UK [MR/L022206/1]
- Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence
- British Heart Foundation [MR/KO232331/1]
- Cancer Research UK [MR/KO232331/1]
- Economic and Social Research Council [MR/KO232331/1]
- Medical Research Council [MR/KO232331/1]
- Welsh Government [MR/KO232331/1]
- Wellcome Trust [MR/KO232331/1]
- NIHR School of Public Health Research
- NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Evaluation
- NIHR BRC at Bristol
- MRC [G0802736, G0800612, MC_UU_00011/7, MR/L022206/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Background: The relationship between anxiety and alcohol use is unclear, and moderating factors, such as drinking to cope (DTC) motives, may explain mixed findings. Methods: Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we examined associations between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) at age 18 and frequent drinking, frequent bingeing, hazardous drinking, and harmful drinking at ages 18 (unadjusted n = 3462) and 21 (unadjusted n = 2076), in a sample of late adolescent drinkers. Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic, parental, and adolescent confounders. We also examined whether DTC motives influenced the strength and direction of associations between GAD and alcohol use. Results: GAD was positively associated with all alcohol outcomes at baseline (unadjusted OR (95% CI): frequent drinking 1.40 (1.02-1.91); frequent bingeing 1.40 (0.96-2.04); hazardous drinking 1.44 (1.08-1.92); harmful drinking 1.98 (1.22-3.23)). GAD increased the odds of harmful drinking at age 21 (unadjusted OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.09-2.73), but there was no clear evidence of a longitudinal relationship between GAD and the other alcohol use outcomes. There was no clear evidence of a GAD x DTC interaction on alcohol use at ages 18 or 21. Findings were consistent across various multiply imputed datasets. Conclusions: In adolescence, GAD symptoms are associated with frequent drinking, frequent bingeing, hazardous drinking, and harmful drinking. In early adulthood, associations remain for harmful drinking only. DTC motives do not appear to moderate the relationship at either age.
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