Riskful alcohol use among young adults in clinical and general populations - development and assessment

Project description

We aim to study how alcohol consumption develops over time, the prevalence across different groups, and how to accurately detect and diagnose alcohol use disorder and problematic drinking. Alcohol use disorder is considered to arise from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. By assessing young people from the general population at several time-points on a wide range of risk and protective factors, including genetic variation and exposure to traumatic experiences, we intend to identify factors that may be relevant for the development of alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders. In addition, two groups of young adult psychiatric patients recruited 10 years apart have been examined in order to assess changes in alcohol consumption over time in risk populations. Results show that alcohol consumption has not changed much over time in young adult psychiatric patients, although more patients in the later cohort was non-drinkers.

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is a screening instrument for alcohol use/risky use. The diagnostic reliability of the Swedish AUDIT for young psychiatric patients will be evaluated within this study.