Limited Evidence of Associations Between Executive Functioning and Alcohol Involvement In UK Adolescents

Aims: Deficits in motor inhibitory control and working memory have been hypothesized to be both a cause and consequence of heavy alcohol use. Adolescence is a critical developmental stage for inhibitory control and working memory, and it is also a stage when individuals are most likely to initiate alcohol use. This study aimed to examine whether inhibitory control and working memory would predict alcohol use and involvement in a group of UK adolescents. Methods: We recruited 220 (N = 178, female) adolescents, aged between 16 and 18, from eight higher education settings in the Merseyside region of the UK. Alcohol use was examined using the Timeline Follow-Back and involvement (and related problems) using the Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale. A reward-based inhibitory control task (Go/No-Go) was used to examine the inhibition and reward sensitivity, and a self-ordered pointing task was used to measure working memory. Results: Multiple regression demonstrated that neither inhibitory control (b= 0.02 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.21, 0.24)) nor working memory (b = - 0.12 (95% CI: -0.30, 0.07)) were significant predictors of alcohol use (units consumed). Inhibitory control (b = 0.61 (95% CI: 0.12, 1.09), specifically, in the no reward condition and school deprivation (b = 0.67 (95% CI: 0.06, 1.28) significantly predicted alcohol-related problems. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated limited evidence that deficits in specific mechanisms of executive functioning (i.e. motor inhibition and working memory) were associated with alcoholrelated problems in UK adolescents. This study adds to an increasing body of literature suggesting weak or non-existent links between inhibitory control, working memory and alcohol use.