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Transactions Between Substance Use Intervention, the Oxytocin Receptor (OXTR) Gene, and Peer Substance Use Predicting Youth Alcohol Use

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Abstract

This study investigated the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene’s moderation of associations between exposure to a substance misuse intervention, average peer substance use, and adolescents’ own alcohol use during the 9th-grade. OXTR genetic risk was measured using five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and peer substance use was based on youths’ nominated closest friends’ own reports of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, based on data from the PROSPER project. Regression models revealed several findings. First, low OXTR risk was linked to affiliating with friends who reported less substance use in the intervention condition but not the control condition. Second, affiliating with high substance-using friends predicted youth alcohol risk regardless of OXTR risk or intervention condition. Third, although high OXTR risk youth in the intervention condition who associated with low substance-using friends reported somewhat higher alcohol use than comparable youth in the control group, the absolute level of alcohol use among these youth was still among the lowest in the sample.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Eric Tricou, and The Penn State Genomics Core Facility, for the technical assistance. Work on this paper was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grants DA030389, DA013709, and R01-DA018225).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State, 119 Health and Human Development, University Park, PA, USA

    H. Harrington Cleveland, Amanda M. Griffin, Pedro S. A. Wolf & Mark T. Greenberg

  2. Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, Penn State, 316 Biobehavioral Health, University Park, PA, USA

    H. Harrington Cleveland, Amanda M. Griffin, Pedro S. A. Wolf, Mark E. Feinberg & Mark T. Greenberg

  3. 147 Central Ave, Salinas, CA, 93901, USA

    Pedro S. A. Wolf

  4. Behavioral Sciences, Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA, USA

    Richard P. Wiebe

  5. Educational Psychology and Methodology, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Ave, Albany, NY, USA

    Gabriel L. Schlomer

  6. Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute, Iowa University, 2625 N. Loop Drive, Suite 2400, Ames, IA, USA

    Richard L. Spoth & Cleve Redmond

  7. Department of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State, 258A Health and Human Development, University Park, PA, USA

    David J. Vandenbergh

  8. Neuroscience Program, Penn State, University Park, PA, USA

    David J. Vandenbergh

  9. Molecular Cellular and Integrative Biosciences Program, Penn State, University Park, PA, USA

    David J. Vandenbergh

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  1. H. Harrington Cleveland
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  2. Amanda M. Griffin
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  3. Pedro S. A. Wolf
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  6. Mark E. Feinberg
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  10. David J. Vandenbergh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. Harrington Cleveland.

Ethics declarations

The work on this paper was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grants DA030389 and DA013709).

The research was approved by The Pennsylvania State University Office of Research Protections. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Cleveland, H.H., Griffin, A.M., Wolf, P.S.A. et al. Transactions Between Substance Use Intervention, the Oxytocin Receptor (OXTR) Gene, and Peer Substance Use Predicting Youth Alcohol Use. Prev Sci 19, 15–26 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0749-5

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