Given that the 12-month and lifetime diagnostic time-frames demonstrated roughly the same pattern and strength of associations between internalizing psychopathology and alcohol dependence, we are inclined to conclude that more trait-like processes are responsible for our findings. For example, these findings are more consistent with the association of alcohol dependence to a general propensity toward experiencing a range of internalizing psychopathology than to a concentration of active internalizing symptoms occurring at a given point in time (Hettema et al., 2006).
