Notably, causative links could not be estimated in the present cross-sectional study, nonetheless bidirectional influences have also to be expected. Attachment, besides being a predictor of behavior during adulthood and alcohol misuse, has also been shown to be negatively affected by alcohol misuse [51]. Nevertheless, the study of rats points to FKBP5-mediated long-term effects of ELS and its interaction with alcohol consumption. The time point when the rats were sacrificed coincides with the beginning of the establishment of individual alcohol consumption patterns and the beginning of transition into high alcohol intake in the MS360 rats [38]. That is, the rats are not in the addictive state and large differences in alcohol exposure do not confound the results. This serves the purpose to investigate early neurobiological signatures related to the propensity to escalate into excessive drinking. Likewise, the young adults did not yet fulfill the criteria for a diagnosis of AUD (only 2 % scored above 19 on the AUDIT, the threshold for requiring referral to specialist for diagnostic evaluation and treatment); this allowed studying the early stage of the trajectory
