Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23033972›Full record

ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2013

Working memory ability predicts trajectories of early alcohol use in adolescents: the mediational role of impulsivity.

Atika Khurana, Dan Romer, Laura M Betancourt, Nancy L Brodsky, Joan M Giannetta, Hallam Hurt

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
88citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

88 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Working Memory Training in Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2019
    Trial
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  6. Attentional bias for nondrug reward is magnified in addiction.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2013
    Trial
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  12. Adolescent executive function as a resilience factor in the family stress model among Mexican-origin families.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2025
    Article
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  15. Using sign tracking to experimentally increase self-control in rats.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2024
    Article
  16. Associations between middle childhood executive control aspects and adolescent substance use and externalizing and internalizing problems.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2024
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Alcohol consumption's effects on working memory: Examining familial confounding.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2024
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Atika KhuranaAnnenberg Public Policy Center, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. akhurana@asc.upenn.edu
Dan Romer
Laura M Betancourt
Nancy L Brodsky
Joan M Giannetta
Hallam Hurt

Funding

Adolescent Drug Use: Exploring Neurocognitive PrecursorsR01DA018913 · NIDA · CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA · PI HURT, HALLAM · 2004 to 2008
$3.0M
Early onset vs. pre-existing vulnerabilities in adolescent drug useR01DA033996 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI ROMER, DANIEL · 2012 to 2014
$1.1M
NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA018913NIDA NIH HHS R01DA018913NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA033996
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aims(i) To evaluate the role of pre-existing weakness in working memory ability (WM) as a risk factor for early alcohol use as mediated by different forms of impulsivity and (ii) to assess the adverse effects of progressive alcohol use on variations in WM over time. DESIGN, SETTING AND

participantsA community sample of 358 adolescents [48% males, mean(age) (baseline) = 11.4 ± 0.87 years] from a longitudinal cohort design, assessed annually over 4 consecutive years with less than 6% attrition. MEASUREMENTS: Repeated assessments were conducted for the following key variables: WM (based on performance on four separate tasks), frequency of alcohol use (AU) and three forms of impulsivity, namely sensation seeking (SS), acting without thinking (AWT) and delay discounting (DD). Latent growth curve modeling procedures were used to identify individual trajectories of change for all key variables.

findingsWeakness in WM (at baseline) predicted significantly both concurrent alcohol use and increased frequency of use over the four waves (P < 0.05). This effect was entirely mediated by two forms of impulsivity, AWT and DD, both of which were characterized by underlying weakness in WM. No individual variation was observed in the slopes of WM, which suggests that individual variations in alcohol use were not associated with changes in WM in our early adolescent sample.

conclusionsEarly adolescent alcohol use may be a consequence of (pre-existing) weaknesses in working memory (WM) rather than a cause of it. Efforts to reduce early alcohol use should consider the distinct roles of different impulsivity dimensions, in addition to WM, as potential targets of intervention.

Indexed as

AdolescentAge of OnsetAlcohol DrinkingFemaleHumansImpulsive BehaviorLongitudinal StudiesMaleMemory, Short-TermRisk Factors

Identifiers

PMID23033972
PMCPMC3568437

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.