Attention to pleasant stimuli in early adolescence predicts alcohol-related problems in mid-adolescence

Attenuated responses to natural rewards have been found to predict subsequent substance use among dependent populations, suggesting that this may be a premorbid risk factor for later problematic substance use. However, research on adolescent risk-taking suggests that exaggerated, rather than blunted, reward responsiveness predicts later substance abuse. Acoustic startle-induced event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded in a sample of 11-13 year-olds while they viewed affective pictures, and participants were reassessed four years later regarding alcohol use and experience of alcohol-related problems. Increased attenuation of the amplitude of the P300 component of the ERP during viewing of pleasant pictures, relative to amplitude during neutral pictures (an indicator of increased attention to pleasant pictures), predicted increased likelihood of alcohol-related problems at follow-up. These findings further support research indicating that increased reward responsiveness predicts risky behaviours in adolescence, with anhedonia primarily a consequence of substance dependence.