Squeglia et al. (2012b) sought to evaluate the impact of high-risk (binge drinking) on cortical thickness. The sample included 29 AU youth (defined as youth engaged in binge drinking) and 30 non-AU youth, aged 16–19 years (matched for age, gender, pubertal development and family alcohol history). Similar to other studies reviewed here (Fein et al., 2013; Medina et al., 2008), this team found significant group by gender interactions, whereby AU males had thinner cortices than non-AU males, and AU females had thicker cortices than non-AU females across frontal regions including the frontal pole, pars orbitalis, medial orbital frontal gyrus and rostral anterior cingulate. Across these left frontal regions, AU females showed 8% thicker cortices, and AU males showed 7% thinner cortices than gender-matched non-AU peers.
