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Educational attainment, smoking initiation and lifetime nicotine dependence among male Vietnam-era twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2007

J. M. McCaffery ,
G. D. Papandonatos ,
M. J. Lyons ,
K. C. Koenen ,
M. T. Tsuang  and
R. Niaura
J. M. McCaffery*
Affiliation:
Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Brown Medical School and The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI, USA
G. D. Papandonatos
Affiliation:
Center for Statistical Sciences, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA
M. J. Lyons
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Departments of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA, USA
K. C. Koenen
Affiliation:
Departments of Society, Human Development and Health and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
M. T. Tsuang
Affiliation:
Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Departments of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA, USA Institute of Behavioral Genomics, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego and VA San Diego Health Care System, San Diego, CA, USA
R. Niaura
Affiliation:
Transdisciplinary Research Group, Butler Hospital and Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: J. M. McCaffery, Ph.D., Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, 196 Richmond Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Smoking initiation and persistence are clearly associated with factors commonly thought to be environmental in origin, including socio-economic status. However, twin models that incorporate gene–environment correlation and gene×environment interaction have not been applied to elucidate the genetic or environmental role that socio-economic status plays in smoking initiation and nicotine dependence.

Method

Twin structural equation modelling was used to examine gene–environment correlation and gene×environment interaction of one index of socio-economic status, educational attainment, with smoking initiation and nicotine dependence among 5119 monozygotic and 4295 dizygotic male–male Vietnam-era twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry, a national registry of twin pairs who served in the military during the Vietnam era.

Results

Educational attainment correlated significantly with smoking initiation (r=−0.27, p<0.001). Additive genetic (p=0.011), shared environment (p=0.002) and unique environment (p=0.027) components contributed to the correlation between educational attainment and smoking initiation. Educational attainment also significantly moderated the variance in smoking initiation (p<0.001), suggestive of gene×environment interaction, although the interaction with the additive genetic, shared environmental and unique environmental components could not be resolved due to multicollinearity. In contrast, educational attainment neither correlated with nor moderated nicotine dependence, once smokers had initiated.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that educational attainment is associated with smoking initiation, in part due to gene–environment correlation and gene×environment interaction. However, once smoking initiation is taken into account, there are no effects – be they gene–environment correlation or gene×environmental interaction – of educational attainment on nicotine dependence.

Keywords

Cigarette smokingeducation leveltwins
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 9 , September 2008 , pp. 1287 - 1297
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 Cambridge University Press

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