OBJECTIVE In adolescence, sensation seeking is associated with earlier onset of alcohol use, which is a risk factor for a variety of negative consequences later in life. Individual differences in sensation seeking are related to brain function in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), a brain region that undergoes considerable structural development during adolescence. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine whether NAcc volume in alcohol-naive adolescents was associated with future sensation seeking and alcohol use and whether these associations differed by sex. METHOD High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure NAcc volume at baseline in 514 alcohol-naive adolescents (50.2% female) from the National Consortium on Alcohol & Neurodevelopment in Adolescence study. Direct effects of NAcc volume on adolescent drinking 2 years after baseline, and indirect effects mediated through sensation seeking 1 year after baseline, were assessed. RESULTS An indirect effect of NAcc volume on subsequent drinking through sensation seeking was significant for males, but not females. This effect was driven by a positive association between NAcc volume and sensation seeking observed in male, but not female, participants. A direct effect of NAcc volume on subsequent alcohol use was detected in females, but not males. In females, no association between NAcc volume and sensation seeking was detected, but NAcc volume was positively associated with future alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that delayed structural maturation of the NAcc may be a risk factor for alcohol use in adolescence; however, the mechanism by which the structure of the NAcc confers risk differs by sex.

中文翻译：

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伏隔核体积对青少年饮酒的影响中的性别差异：在NCANDA样本中寻求感觉的中介作用

目的在青春期，寻求感觉与较早开始饮酒有关，这是以后生活中各种负面后果的危险因素。寻求感觉的个体差异与伏隔核（NAcc）的大脑功能有关，伏隔核是在青春期经历相当大的结构发育的大脑区域。因此，本研究的目的是确定未饮酒的青少年中NAcc的量是否与未来的寻求感觉和饮酒有关，以及这些联系是否因性别而异。方法：采用高分辨率磁共振成像技术对来自国家酒精与神经发育联合会的514名无酒精初榨青少年（女性占50.2％）在基线时的NAcc量进行测量。评估基线后2年NAcc量对青少年饮酒的直接影响，以及基线后1年寻求感觉引起的间接影响。结果NAcc量对通过寻求感觉的随后饮酒的间接影响对男性而言是显着的，但对女性而言却不是。在男性参与者而非女性参与者中观察到的NAcc量与感觉寻求之间呈正相关，从而驱动了这种效应。在女性而非男性中检测到NAcc量对随后饮酒的直接影响。在女性中，未检测到NAcc量与寻求感觉之间的关联，但NAcc量与未来饮酒呈正相关。结论这些发现表明，NAcc的结构成熟延迟可能是青春期饮酒的危险因素。然而，