In the Chicago Social Drinking Project (CSDP), we have undertaken such an analysis in our first cohort and documented that, compared with lighter drinkers, young adult heavy drinkers were more sensitive to the stimulating, motivating (“wanting”), and rewarding effects (“liking”) of alcohol, and were less sensitive to its sedative effects (10). Although stimulation and sedation were inversely correlated (18), we found that higher alcohol stimulation, wanting, and liking, and not lower sedation, predicted progression of AUD symptoms 5–6 years after the initial alcohol challenge in heavy drinkers (11). Further, when participants were re-tested with alcohol 5–6 years later, heavy drinkers who developed more AUD symptoms reported persistently greater stimulation, wanting and liking after consuming alcohol (at both initial test and 5 years later), whereas light drinkers did not report experiencing these euphoric and motivating responses (19). However, the testing was limited to a five year re-examination period when participants were just entering their fourth decade of life which may not have been sufficient to fully examine AUD development. In addition, the previous report focused mainly on heavy drinkers and did not allow for an integrated examination of the trajectory of both light and heavy drinkers.
