These high levels of sensitivity to uncertain threat in individuals with alcohol use disorder are also positively associated with self-reported coping motives for use. To further explore BI’s potential risk for, or protection against, substance use, studies have examined BIS and BAS levels on substance use outcomes. These studies have focused on undergraduate populations and yielded mixed results with some studies showing no association between BIS levels and substance use , others showing a positive association between BIS levels with substance use problems , and still others showing a positive association between BIS levels and substance use but only for high BAS levels . Given these conflicting results, Morris et al. used a cross-sectional design to examine whether BIS and BAS were indirectly associated with alcohol problems through coping and conformity motives among undergraduate students. Results indicated that those high in BIS levels were more likely to experience alcohol problems due to greater coping and conformity motives for use. Importantly this finding was independent of levels of BAS and high BAS levels only further strengthened these relationships. Taken together, these results highlight BI’s nuanced pathways for high or low risk for substance use and demonstrate the need to investigate potential additional factors contributing to the relationships between BI and substance use. Ethnicity may be one such important moderator of the relationships between BI, anxiety, and substance use. Hispanic/Latinx youth have consistently displayed increased rates of anxiety symptoms, anxiety disorders, and initial rates of substance use when compared to their non-H/L peers . The greater frequency and intensity for which H/L youth experience threats including increased exposure to crime, community violence, chronic stress, and racial discrimination may heighten levels of BI in H/L youth . In fact, H/L adults have displayed increased attentional biases to threat as compared to non-H/L adults . Cultural values may also further impact BI’s association with anxiety in H/L youth. Schneider and Gudiño showed a positive relationship between BI and anxiety symptoms in H/L adolescents and that this relationship was strongest for those H/L adolescents reporting high levels of Latino cultural values.

More specifically, H/L youth may also experience increased anxiety due to heightened social stigma of mental illness in the H/L community and factors related to collectivist cultural values, immigration, and acculturation that, especially in combination,grow light shelves put H/L youth at increased risk when compared to other racial/ethnic groups . It is possible that the combination of increased exposure to stressors and traumatic experiences as well as the context of heightened social stigma and collectivist cultural values may dissuade H/L youth from utilizing social support as a form of coping with their anxiety. Since high levels of BI may lead to alcohol problems through coping and conformity motives and H/L youth may experience greater exposure to substance use as they have the highest initial rates of substance use, H/L youth high in BI may be uniquely at risk for substance use. Therefore, H/L ethnicity may moderate the relationship between BI and substance use. However, it is presently unclear whether the strengths of the relationships between BI, anxiety, and substance use differ based on H/L ethnicity. Therefore, the present study will prospectively investigate the relationships between BIS scale scores , anxiety, and substance use and whether H/L ethnicity moderates such relationships in youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study at baseline , 1-year follow-up , and 2-year follow-up . Logistic regressions were conducted using the “glm” function in R to evaluate the impact of baseline BIS scores and the interaction between baseline BIS scores and ethnicity on past-year substance use at 1-year follow-up and past-year substance use at 2-year follow-up . Linear regressions were conducted using the “lm” function in R to evaluate the impact of baseline BIS scores and the interaction between baseline BIS scores and ethnicity on 1-year follow-up CBCL DSM-5 anxiety problems T-scores and 2-year follow-up CBCL DSM-5 anxiety problems T-scores. All analyses were conducted in version 4.2.3 of R. While the majority of youth did not report substance use at baseline , 0.50% of H/L youth and 0.42% of non-H/L youth did endorse use at baseline. At 1-year follow-up 0.22% of the sample endorsed any substance use and 0.74% endorsed any substance use at 2-year follow-up.

Baseline past-year use days was dichotomized into no past-year substance use and past-year substance use and included as a covariate. Past-year substance use at baseline was included in both models in which past-year substance use at follow-up was an outcome. Past year substance use at 1-year followup was also included as a dichotomous covariate in the model predicting past-year substance use at 2-year follow-up. To control for their effects on anxiety and substance use, all models included the following covariates: mean baseline BAS scores, race, sex, age, highest parental income, and highest parental education.BI has been shown to concurrently and prospectively predict anxiety, while the association between BI and substance use has been mixed. It is possible that the relationship between BI and substance use varies by social and contextual factors. H/L youth in particular may have stronger relationships between BI, anxiety, and substance use. The present study evaluated the prospective relationships between BIS scores, anxiety, and substance use in youth across 1- and 2- year follow-ups of the ABCD study and whether these relationships differed by H/L ethnicity. Results indicated that baseline levels of BIS scores prospectively and positively predicted anxiety symptoms at both 1- and 2-year follow-ups . The relationship between baseline levels of BIS and follow-up levels of anxiety did not differ by ethnicity. Baseline levels of BIS also prospectively predicted increased likelihood of substance use at 2-year follow-up , but only for H/L youth and not for non-H/L youth. No main effects of, or interactions between, ethnicity and BIS scores were found on substance use at the 1-year follow-up. The results showing that baseline BIS scores prospectively and positively predicted anxiety symptoms across the follow-ups are consistent with prior literature on the relationship between BI and anxiety . While prior studies have shown that H/L youth report higher levels of anxiety than non-H/L youth , the present study did not find any ethnic differences in the strength of the relationship between BI and anxiety. It is possible that ethnic differences in anxiety depend on the measure of anxiety . H/L are more likely to experience and report physiological symptoms of anxiety . The CBCL DSM-5 anxiety problems scales may not best represent H/L youth’s experience of anxiety.

Additionally,other risk factors for anxiety may play a more important role in H/L youth’s experience of anxiety and better explain the ethnic differences in anxiety in youth. For example, individual differences in sensitivity to uncertain threat may be a stronger predictor of anxiety, and particularly for H/L . Results related to the relationship between BIS scores and substance use varied across the follow-up years. The lack of association between BIS scores and likelihood of substance use at 1-year follow-up may be due to the fact that substance use at 1- year follow-up was infrequent and did not greatly increase from baseline. While overall substance use increased at 2-year followup in the sample, BIS scores only predicted increased likelihood of substance us in H/L youth . Similar to the results of Morris et al. , these results were independent of levels of BAS scores. This finding is also consistent with results from Chen and Jacobson showing that H/L youth have the highest initial rates of substance use. H/L youth’s increased exposure to crime, community violence, chronic stress, and racial discrimination may also increase coping and conformity motives which in turn may increase likelihood of substances use. It is possible that high BI, in addition to, or in conjunction with, additional risk factors such as increased access to substances, reduced parental monitoring, and association with deviant peers may uniquely contribute to risk for early use of substances in H/L. Further research is needed to understand whether and how such risk may change as rates of substance use change across development. The present study had several limitations and future directions. While the longitudinal nature of the ABCD study allowed for the investigation of prospective and not just concurrent relationships between BIS scores, anxiety, and substance use, it is possible that the age of the sample at baseline and through the followups is still too early to best capture these relationships. As BI is often first assessed in infancy or early childhood , the strength of the relationships between BI, substance use, and anxiety may vary across development and the lifespan. Relatedly,vertical grow system assessing BI via behavioral observation in infancy or early childhood may yield different results than the self-reported BIS scale scores utilized in the present investigation. Additionally, as rates of substance use increase across adolescence and early adulthood and use trajectories vary between ethnicities , the relationships between BIS scores, ethnicity, and substance use may vary based on the time point in which substance use is measured. These relationships may also vary across H/L youth and could differ based on factors such as time living in the US, social stigma, acculturation, language, nativity, and socioeconomic status . Lastly, the ABCD study sample is not a clinical or treatment seeking sample and utilizing clinical samples may impact the strength of the relationships explored in the present study. Additional prospective studies are needed to understand how BIS scores and ethnicity relate to substance use as use increases in future follow-up years of the ABCD Study.

Additional research is also needed to understand how factors such as trauma exposure, stress, cultural values, discrimination, coping motives, conformity motives, etc. may mediate the relationship between BI and substance use in H/L youth. In conclusion, high levels of BIS prospectively predict increased rates of anxiety symptoms in both H/L and non-H/L youth. However, BIS scores uniquely predict increased likelihood of substance use for H/L youth. Future studies are needed to further understand the mechanisms ‘underlying the relationship between BI and substance use in H/L youth that will provide a scientific basis to better inform prevention and intervention programs for the H/L community. Alcohol consumption accounts for 5.9%, or roughly 3.3 million, deaths globally each year . Although alcohol use alone represents a serious public health concern, high comorbidity rates have been observed at an epidemiological level between alcohol and nicotine use , such that 6.2 million adults in the United States endorsed both an alcohol use disorder and dependence on nicotine . Moreover, an individual is three times more likely to be a smoker if he/she is dependent on alcohol and those who are dependent on nicotine are four times more likely to be dependent on alcohol . Given these statistics, it is evident that heavy drinking smokers comprise a distinct sub-population of substance users that warrant unique investigation. Magnetic resonance imaging studies that have focused specifically on the effects that alcohol use may have on brain morphometry have investigated the relationship between drinking variables, such as lifetime duration of alcohol use or lifetime alcohol intake and brain structure in current alcohol users. For example, Fein et al. found lifetime duration of alcohol use was negatively associated with total cortical gray matter volume in alcohol dependent males, but not in light drinkers. Moreover, findings from Taki et al. suggest a significant negative association between lifetime alcohol intake and gray matter volume reductions in the bilateral middle frontal gyri among non-alcohol dependent Japanese men. A recent study , however, found no significant relationship between lifetime alcohol consumption and gray matter volumes in a sample of 367 non-alcohol dependent individuals. Given these contrasting findings, it is uncertain whether quantity variables, such as lifetime alcohol intake or duration of alcohol use account for many of the gray matter volume reductions observed with continued alcohol use. Various studies have implicated several different regions of gray matter atrophy in alcohol dependent individuals, such as the thalamus, middle frontal gyrus, insula, cerebellum, anterior cingulate cortex , and several prefrontal cortical areas . Due to these heterogeneous results, a meta-analysis was conducted, which concluded that there were significant gray matter decreases in the ACC and left dorsal striatum/insula , right dorsal striatum/insula , and the posterior cingulate cortex in alcohol dependent users relative to healthy controls .