# The development of alcohol misuse and related problems from adolescence to early midlife

> **NIH NIH R01** · VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $607,181

## Abstract

Project Summary
The goal of this competing continuation is to examine the antecedents and health consequences of alcohol
misuse from adolescence through early midlife (the 30s). There is a paucity of longitudinal studies on alcohol
misuse that extend through early midlife in the general population, and the existing knowledge base comes from
studies of singletons, which are prone to confounding. We propose to address these limitations by bringing
together two longitudinal studies of Finnish twins, FinnTwin12 (FT12) and FinnTwin16 (FT16), ns = 5178 and
5563, ~50% female. The innovative longitudinal twin design, which allows us to control for confounding factors
through the comparison of exposures and outcomes within families and within individuals, will add much needed
rigor to our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of alcohol misuse through early midlife. FT12
was recruited at age 12 and subsequently assessed at ages 14, 17, and 22. Under this renewal, we will conduct
an early midlife (age 35) assessment of the FT12 twins (online surveys regarding their current health, behavior,
and environments; a salivary DNA sample; and, for a subsample of participants who have been intensively
studied since age 14, diagnostic psychiatric and life history calendar interviews and laboratory-based
neurocognitive and health measures) and the twins’ spouses (online survey only). FT16 was recruited at age 16
and subsequently assessed at ages 17, 18, 25, and 35. Finland offers a unique environment for conducting the
proposed research, including record linkage to comprehensive national registries and a modern biobanking
infrastructure. Guided by a multilevel developmental contextual framework, our aims are to: (1) Characterize
patterns of alcohol misuse from adolescence to early midlife. (2) Identify factors associated with trajectories of
alcohol misuse between adolescence and early midlife. These include person-level factors such as polygenic
predispositions, personality, and neurocognitive functioning; environmental factors such as parents, peers,
spouses/partners, life events, parenthood, employment, and education; and internalizing, externalizing, and
other substance use problems. (3) Examine the health outcomes associated with trajectories of alcohol misuse,
including measures of physical health, sleep, and life satisfaction. Finally, we will examine the generalizability of
effects using the U.S. nationally representative Add Health sample (n = 20,745), which has comparable
measures and assessments, including a sibling component. The results will provide important information about
alcohol misuse and its consequences through the understudied early midlife period. Through partnerships with
collaborators in the arts and mass communications, we will translate and disseminate our findings to the public
through nontraditional creative content to increase accessibility of scientific results. In sum, this project will
contribute to NIAAA’s goals to ident...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10259653
- **Project number:** 5R01AA015416-13
- **Recipient organization:** VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** DANIELLE M DICK
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $607,181
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2005-09-25 → 2022-01-18

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10259653

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10259653, The development of alcohol misuse and related problems from adolescence to early midlife (5R01AA015416-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10259653. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*