SG differences in structural findings in adolescent AUD, however, are not consistent. While frontal and temporal volumes were reduced overall in adolescents with AUD or young adults with a history of excessive drinking compared to healthy controls, an effect of SG on reduced grey matter volumes in frontal and temporal brain areas was not significant (Brooks et al., 2014; Heikkinen et al., 2017). This is somewhat consistent with findings from the National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) that gray and white matter volume and surface area did not differ between adolescent girls and boys with moderate to high alcohol use; however, smaller gray and white matter volumes were present in adolescent girls compared to boys with no to low alcohol use (Pfefferbaum et al., 2016).
