Resilience: A small, quiet word with huge alcohol use disorder implications

Researchers used personal interviews to assess resilience in 1,653,721 Swedish men, ages 17-25 years, and identified AUDs from Swedish medical, legal, and pharmacy registries. Analyses considered the relationship between resilience and AUDs, and how it might be linked to common genetic or environmental factors.

Results showed that resilience greatly reduced the risk of developing AUDs. Specifically, all five items that comprised resiliency -- social maturity, interest, psychological energy, home environment, and emotional control -- reduced risk, with social maturity having the strongest effect. Further, the relationship between resilience and AUD was largely attributable to overlapping genetic and shared environmental factors. These findings suggest that the relationship between resilience and AUD is not a causal one, but can be better explained by common genetic and environmental influences on drinking behavior.