Latent Class Analysis of Non-Treatment Seeking Social Drinkers Reveal 3 Empirical Classes with Differences in Risk for Alcohol-Related Phenotypes

Monday, September 22, 2014 — Poster Session I
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	FAES Academic Center	NIAAA	BEHAV-5

Authors

• J. Yan
• ML Schwandt
• SB Cho
• BL Stangl
• LE Kwako
• DM Dick
• KS Kendler
• L Leggio
• R Momenan
• M Heilig
• VA Ramchandani

Abstract

This study aimed to uncover empirical classes in a sample of non-treatment-seeking drinkers in order to investigate latent patterns influencing alcohol consumption in a primarily nondependent sample. Analyses were conducted using mixture modeling in Mplus-v7. Indices obtained during a phenotypic assessment and screening visit of individuals participating in studies at NIAAA were assessed, with a total of 20 indicator variables from the NEO Personality Assessment, Family Tree Questionnaire, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire, UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale, Delay Discounting Task, IQ, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Lifetime Drinking History and the Self-Reported Effects of Alcohol, with age and sex as covariates. A 3-class solution was found to be the best fit to the data, consisting of (1) a class with the lowest levels of impulsivity and aggression (n=318), (2) a class high in impulsivity and low in agreeableness and conscientiousness (n=122), and (3) a class that had the greatest history of childhood trauma (n=30). Class 2 reported significantly more lifetime total drinks compared with Class 1 (p=0.007) and Class 3 reported significantly more total drinks compared with both Classes 1 and 2 (p<0.03). Classes 2 and 3 had higher levels of lifetime alcohol use disorder than Class 1 (p<0.001).

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