Sweet-Liking Is Associated with Transformation of Heavy Drinking into Alcohol-Related Problems in Young Adults with High Novelty Seeking

Abstract

These results support and extend our hypothesis that as clinically distinct phenotypes, high NS and the SL phenotype are associated with risk of alcohol-related problems. High NS is associated with the use of alcohol, and the presence of the SL phenotype appears to bias an individual to alcohol problems once alcohol use is initiated. Understanding the biology and phenomenology of these phenotypes will allow a more complete picture of the processes that lead to alcohol problems.