Behavioral Healthcare

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A study using twins to investigate genetic and environmental influences on the rate at which young women progress to alcohol dependence (AD) has found that genetic and individual-specific environmental influences are evident in all transitions — the stages of drinking behaviors. By contrast, environmental influences common to members of a twin pair (for example, exposure to parental conflict) are evident primarily in the transition from non-use to first alcohol use.

Study participants were 3,546 female twins, 18- to 29-years old, from a longitudinal twin-based study of alcohol-related problems and associated psychopathology in female adolescents and young adults. Retrospective reports of alcohol-use histories were collected through telephone interviews and used to determine transition times between drinking milestones: from non-use to initiation, initiation to onset of first alcohol-related problem and first problem to onset of AD.

"Women have historically been underrepresented in alcohol research, in part because alcohol-related problems are more prevalent in men, but also because the early notions about alcohol-use disorders were narrower and more focused on stereotypically male traits than they are today," explained Carolyn E. Sartor, postdoctoral research fellow at Washington University School of Medicine and corresponding author for the study.

Genetic factors were found to contribute significantly to all three transition times, accounting for 30 percent to 47 percent of the variance. Environmental factors unique to individuals also contributed significantly to the timing of all three transitions, but environmental factors shared by twins were influential only in the rate of progression from non-use to initiation of use.

"Our results indicated that heritable influences are traceable to a common factor, but the degree to which they shape the timing of transitions varies by stage in drinking course," said Sartor. "Genetic factors appear to play a larger role in later-stage transitions than in the age at which girls begin drinking. By contrast, this first stage was the only one influenced significantly by aspects of the environment that are common to members of a twin pairs, such as shared peer influences."

Address: University of Washington School of Medicine, 1925 NE Pacific St., Seattle, WA 98195; (206) 543-1060, http://www.uwmedicine.washington.edu.

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Source: Employee Assistance Program Management Letter, April 2008