The risk of male adult alcohol dependence: The role of the adverse childhood experiences and ecological executive function.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between male adult alcohol dependence and their adverse childhood experiences as well as ecological executive function.

METHODS: The questionnaires of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A) were adopted for the assessments of 102 alcohol dependent patients who were diagnosed according to the criteria defined by the International Classification of diseases and related health problems (ICD-10) and 106 healthy volunteers, and the differences between patients and healthy volunteers were analyzed.

RESULTS: The percentage of adverse childhood experiences in alcohol dependent patients was significantly higher than that in healthy volunteers (χ(2)=17.28, P<0.01); and the incidences of emotional abuse, physical neglect, violence witness, and substance abuse were significantly higher in alcohol dependent patients than those in healthy volunteers (χ(2)=4.59, 4.46, 10.51, and 44.09 respectively; P<0.05). The ecological executive function analysis showed that the BRIEF total score and scores for each item were all significantly higher in alcohol dependent patients than those of healthy volunteers (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The adult alcohol dependence was associated with their adverse childhood experiences and ecological executive function. Then physical neglect and substance abuse of parents in childhood, and emotional control defect in the ecological executive function showed strong association with adult alcohol dependence.