alcohol use

Positive lifestyle behaviours and emotional health factors are associated with low back pain resilience

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between lifestyle behaviours, emotional health factors, and low back pain (LBP) resilience. Methods: This retrospective longitudinal study utilised 1,065 twins with a recent history of LBP from the Washington State Twin Registry. A lifestyle behaviour score was built using variables of body mass index, physical activity engagement, sleep quality, smoking […]

Stress, Anxiety, and Change in Alcohol Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings Among Adult Twin Pairs

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the lives of people worldwide since being declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Social restrictions aimed at flattening the curve may be associated with an increase in stress and anxiety, which may increase the use of alcohol as a coping mechanism. The objective of this study was to […]

Neighborhood Deprivation Moderates Shared and Unique Environmental Influences on Hazardous Drinking: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Co-Twin Study

Background: There has been increased interest in the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in the development of problematic alcohol use, including socioeconomic conditions of the neighborhood. Using a co-twin design, we examined the extent to which contributions of genetic, shared environmental, and unique environmental influences on hazardous drinking differed according to levels of neighborhood […]

Examination of Cross-Sectional Associations of Neighborhood Deprivation and Alcohol Outlet Density With Hazardous Drinking Using a Twin Design

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and alcohol outlet density are associated with hazardous drinking using a co-twin design to control for confounding because of genetic and shared environmental factors. Method: The study sample included cross-sectional data from 1,996 same-sex adult twin pairs (mean age = 36.6; 65.9% female) from […]

Is Marriage a Buzzkill? A Twin Study of Marital Status and Alcohol Consumption

Married adults have consistently been found to drink less than their single or divorced counterparts. This correlation may not be causal, however, as people nonrandomly “select” into marriage and into alcohol use. The current study uses a sample of 2,425 same-sex twin pairs (1,703 MZ; 722 DZ) to control for genetic and shared environmental selection, […]

A Twin Study of Genetic Influences on Diurnal Preference and Risk for Alcohol Use Outcomes

Objective: The population-based University of Washington Twin Registry (UWTR) was used to examine (1) genetic influences on chronobiology and (2) whether these genetic factors influence alcohol-use phenotypes. Methods: We used a reduced Horne-Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ) to survey UWTR participants for diurnal preference. Frequency and quantity of alcohol use, as well as binge drinking (6+ drinks per […]