Recent structural MRI studies reveal SG differences in brain volume related to heavy drinking in adolescence and adolescent-onset AUD spanning the PFC, thalamus, and putamen. In PFC, adolescent females with AUD demonstrated smaller PFC volumes and smaller PFC white matter volumes than their healthy female counterparts (cc3; anterior ventral PFC: AUD mean=0.0473, SD=0.0040; HC mean=0.0554, SD=0.0064; p<0.03), whereas adolescent males with AUD had larger PFC volumes and PFC white matter volumes than their healthy male counterparts (cc3; anterior ventral PFC: AUD mean=0.0586, SD=0.0063; HC mean=0.0531, SD=0.0071; p<0.009) (Medina et al., 2008). This is consistent with gray matter atrophy in PFC being more strongly associated with heavy drinking in females compared to males (S. Seo et al., 2019). Adolescent female binge drinkers also exhibited ~8% thicker frontal cortices compared to same-sex controls, which was associated with worse cognitive performances, while male binge drinkers had ~7% thinner cortices compared to same-sex controls (Squeglia et al., 2012). This suggests delayed cortical thinning, a process promoting efficient neural processing in adolescence, in adolescent female drinkers. These results are consistent with functional findings in frontal
