Associations between adolescent alcohol use and neurocognitive functioning in young adulthood

This study examined the associations between excessive alcohol intake during adolescence and neurocognitive functioning in young adulthood and whether these relations varied by sex. Participants were working-class Chilean adolescents (N = 692; M-age 16.0 years; 54.5% female) who provided frequency of past 30-day bingeing and past-year intoxication. Neurocognitive measures were completed in young adulthood (M-age 21.2 years). Illicit substance users were excluded a priori and other substance use was controlled. When males and females were considered simultaneously, no main effects of intoxication or bingeing were found. However, several sex-specific effects emerged for intoxication, such that more frequent intoxication was associated with poorer visual memory, attention, processing speed, response inhibition, and cognitive flexibility in females, while frequent intoxication related to better attention and processing speed in males. In general, effect sizes were small. No relations emerged for verbal memory, working memory, or spatial learning. Possible factors that contribute to divergent sex effects are discussed.