Child maltreatment may influence alcohol consumption in adolescents, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that child maltreatment, whatever its form, produces functional brain changes that increase vulnerability to alcohol consumption when reaching adolescence. Their results suggest that the brains of some young abused people perceived the intake of substances positively and were not able to perceive the risks associated with this addictive behavior.

"The higher the stress in childhood, the greater the affection towards alcohol during adolescence," Jorge Manzanares said in a statement. "Because of this stress, the level to experience pleasure is very low and individuals under stress need external stimuli. Pleasure nerve pathways are usually stimulated by natural factors such as music, chocolate or sex but these may not be sufficient for individuals with altered genes and therefore they resort to additional stimuli such as substance use."

For the study, researchers interviewed 660 people between 16 and 18 years old. Of this cohort, 330 consume alcohol, and of these, 60 percent were abused in some way during their childhood.

Psychiatrist Gabriel Rubio noted that "the abuse suffered during childhood predisposes adolescents to substance use because of the activation of mechanisms and brain circuits that motivates them to try more and to underestimate risk."

Rubio added that "the sequence of this process begins with the abuse which is to blame for activating the stress mechanisms and at the same time responsible for causing a change in brain circuits that predisposes adolescents to adopt consumer behavior and ultimately be hooked."

Researchers emphasize the development of a preventive therapy for them to acquire that awareness of risk that is distorted when they are mistreated and so avoid getting a craving for alcohol.