Autistic traits and alcohol consumption through adolescence and young adulthood

Contrary to previous findings, emerging studies support the increased likelihood of hazardous alcohol consumption in autistic adults when compared to neurotypical individuals. However, support services specifically for autistic people drinking hazardously are lacking. Examining the relationship of autistic features with alcohol consumption patterns longitudinally is essential to identify appropriate developmental points to offer support.

We investigated this using both phenotypic and genetic exposures measured in participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Our exposures included three measures of autistic traits (a broad autism phenotype measure, Social Communication Disorders Checklist score and polygenic score reflecting genetic liability for autism). Our outcome was alcohol consumption, measured across five timepoints between the ages of 17 to 28 years. We used multilevel piecewise linear spline analyses to model both the mean and 10^th, 50^th (median) and 90^th quantiles of alcohol consumption longitudinally.

There was little evidence that genetic liability for autism influenced alcohol consumption. However, we found that individuals with higher autistic traits drank less at the mean and 10^th, 50^th (median) and 90^th percentiles of alcohol consumption compared to those with lower autistic traits. We did not find evidence of a relationship between social communication differences and alcohol consumption at the mean, 10^th and 50^th (median) percentiles. Conversely, there was evidence to suggest that individuals with greater social communication differences drank more at the 90^th percentile compared to those with fewer social communication differences.

Our findings indicate that social communication differences are associated with increased alcohol consumption in heavy drinkers, and that the relationship between autistic traits and alcohol consumption varies dependent on how traits are measured. This may explain the plurality of previous findings. Further research is needed to develop a more nuanced understanding of these associations across subpopulations of autistic traits and alcohol consumption.