Notably, some of the nominal associations identified in our study (Table 1) showed a similar directional pattern wherein among substance naïve children, associations with PRS were positive (e.g., greater insula volume and area, inferior and superior parietal cortex cortical thickness and volume) that have observed to be negatively associated with alcohol dependence in a large meta-analysis (2). It is possible that brain regions exerting the most dominant influence may show fluid changes across development, and that genomic variability as well as alcohol exposure (37) may drive developmentally dependent differences.
