Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-fr72s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-17T00:17:40.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Predicting alcohol consumption in adolescence from alcohol-specific and general externalizing genetic risk factors, key environmental exposures and their interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2010

K. S. Kendler ,
C. Gardner  and
D. M. Dick
K. S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA
C. Gardner
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA
D. M. Dick
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: K. S. Kendler, M.D., Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School, PO Box 980126, Richmond, VA 23298-0126, USA. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Alcohol consumption is influenced by specific genetic risk factors for alcohol use disorders (AUDs), non-specific genetic risk factors for externalizing behaviors and various environmental experiences. We have limited knowledge of how these risk factors inter-relate through development.

Method

Retrospective assessments in 1796 adult male twins using a life history calendar of key environmental exposures and alcohol consumption from early adolescence to mid-adulthood. Analysis by linear mixed models.

Results

The importance of non-specific genetic risk factors on maximal alcohol consumption rose rapidly in early to mid-adolescence, peaked at ages 15–17 years and then declined slowly. Alcohol-specific genetic risk factors increased slowly in influence through mid-adulthood. We detected robust evidence for environmental moderation of genetic effects on alcohol consumption that was more pronounced in early and mid-adolescence than in later periods. Alcohol availability, peer deviance and low prosocial behaviors showing the strongest moderation effects. More interactions with environmental risk factors were seen for the non-specific externalizing disorder risk than for specific genetic risk for AUDs.

Conclusions

The impact of specific and non-specific genetic influences on alcohol consumption have different development trajectories. Genetic effects on alcohol use are more pronounced when social constraints are minimized (e.g. low prosocial behaviors or parental monitoring) or when the environment permits easy access to alcohol and/or encourages its use (e.g. high alcohol availability or peer deviance). Gene–environment interactions influencing alcohol intake may be more robust at younger ages, indicating greater plasticity of genetic influences early in the development of drinking patterns.

Keywords

Adolescencealcoholgeneticsgene–environment interaction
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 7 , July 2011 , pp. 1507 - 1516
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

APA (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Babor, TF, Dolinsky, ZS (1988). Alcoholic typologies: historical evolution and empirical evaluation of some common classification schemes. In Alcoholism: Origins and Outcome (ed. Rose, R. and Barrett, J.), pp. 245–264. Raven Press, Ltd.: New York.Google Scholar
Babor, TF, Hofmann, M, DelBoca, FK, Hesselbrock, V, Meyer, RE, Dolinsky, ZS, Rounsaville, B (1992). Types of alcoholics. I. Evidence for an empirically derived typology based on indicators of vulnerability and severity. Archives of General Psychiatry 49, 599–608.Google Scholar
Belli, RF (1998). The structure of autobiographical memory and the event history calendar: potential improvements in the quality of retrospective reports in surveys. Memory 6, 383–406.Google Scholar
Button, TM, Corley, RP, Rhee, SH, Hewitt, JK, Young, SE, Stallings, MC (2007). Delinquent peer affiliation and conduct problems: a twin study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 116, 554–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D, Rogosch, FA (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology 8, 597–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloninger, CR, Bohman, M, Sigvardsson, S (1981). Inheritance of alcohol abuse. Cross-fostering analysis of adopted men. Archives of General Psychiatry 38, 861–868.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, P, Kasen, S, Chen, H, Hartmark, C, Gordon, K (2003). Variations in patterns of developmental transitions in the emerging adulthood period. Developmental Psychology 39, 657–669.Google Scholar
Cook, LS, White, JL, Stuart, GC, Magliocco, AM (2003). The reliability of telephone interviews compared with in-person interviews using memory aids. Annals of Epidemiology 13, 495–501.Google Scholar
Dick, DM, Latendresse, SJ, Lansford, JE, Budde, JP, Goate, A, Dodge, KA, Pettit, GS, Bates, JE (2009). Role of GABRA2 in trajectories of externalizing behavior across development and evidence of moderation by parental monitoring. Archives of General Psychiatry 66, 649–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dick, DM, Pagan, JL, Viken, R, Purcell, S, Kaprio, J, Pulkkinen, L, Rose, RJ (2007 a). Changing environmental influences on substance use across development. Twin Research and Human Genetics 10, 315–326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dick, DM, Rose, RJ, Viken, RJ, Kaprio, J, Koskenvuo, M (2001). Exploring gene-environment interactions: socioregional moderation of alcohol use. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 110, 625–632.Google Scholar
Dick, DM, Viken, R, Purcell, S, Kaprio, J, Pulkkinen, L, Rose, RJ (2007 b). Parental monitoring moderates the importance of genetic and environmental influences on adolescent smoking. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 116, 213–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dishion, TJ, Andrews, DW, Crosby, L (1995). Antisocial boys and their friends in early adolescence: relationship characteristics, quality, and interactional process. Child Development 66, 139–151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farrington, D (2005). Childhood origins of antisocial behavior. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 12, 177–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freedman, D, Thornton, A, Camburn, D, Alwin, D, Young-DeMarco, L (1988). The life history calendar: a technique for collecting retrospective data. Sociological Methodology 18, 37–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, NA, Kendler, KS, Prescott, CA, Aggen, SH, Gardner, CO Jr., Jacobson, K, Neale, MC (2007). Longitudinal modeling of genetic and environmental influences on self-reported availability of psychoactive substances: alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine and stimulants. Psychological Medicine 37, 947–959.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Granic, I, Patterson, GR (2006). Toward a comprehensive model of antisocial development: a dynamic systems approach. Psychological Review 113, 101–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, JD, Herrenkohl, T, Farrington, DP, Brewer, D, Catalano, RF, Harachi, TW (1998). A review of predictors of youth violence. In Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Successful Interventions (ed. Loeber, R. and Farrington, D. P.), pp. 106–146. Sage Publications, Inc.: London, UK.Google Scholar
Hicks, BM, Blonigen, DM, Kramer, MD, Krueger, RF, Patrick, CJ, Iacono, WG, McGue, M (2007). Gender differences and developmental change in externalizing disorders from late adolescence to early adulthood: a longitudinal twin study. Journal Abnormal Psychology 116, 433–447.Google Scholar
Hicks, BM, Krueger, RF, Iacono, WG, McGue, M, Patrick, CJ (2004). Family transmission and heritability of externalizing disorders: a twin-family study. Archives of General Psychiatry 61, 922–928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hicks, BM, South, SC, DiRago, AC, Iacono, WG, McGue, M (2009). Environmental adversity and increasing genetic risk for externalizing disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 66, 640–648.Google Scholar
Johnston, LD, Bachman, JG, O'Malley, PM (1982). Monitoring the Future: Questionnaire Responses from the Nation's High School Seniors, 1981. Institute for Social Research: Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS (2001). Twin studies of psychiatric illness: an update. Archives of General Psychiatry 58, 1005–1014.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Eaves, LJ (1986). Models for the joint effect of genotype and environment on liability to psychiatric illness. American Journal of Psychiatry 143, 279–289.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Jacobson, KC, Gardner, CO, Gillespie, NA, Aggen, SH, Prescott, CA (2007). Creating a social world: a developmental study of peer deviance. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 958–965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Karkowski, LM, Neale, MC, Prescott, CA (2000). Illicit psychoactive substance use, heavy use, abuse, and dependence in a US population-based sample of male twins. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 261–269.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Neale, MC, Heath, AC, Kessler, RC, Eaves, LJ (1994). A twin-family study of alcoholism in women. American Journal Psychiatry 151, 707–715.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Prescott, CA (2006). Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology: Understanding the Causes of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Prescott, CA, Myers, J, Neale, MC (2003). The structure of genetic and environmental risk factors for common psychiatric and substance use disorders in men and women. Archives of General Psychiatry 60, 929–937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Schmitt, JE, Aggen, SH, Prescott, CA (2008). Genetic and environmental influences on alcohol, caffeine, cannabis, and nicotine use from adolescence to middle adulthood. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 674–682.Google Scholar
Kerr, M, Stattin, H (2000). What parents know, how they know it, and several forms of adolescent adjustment: further support for a reinterpretation of monitoring. Developmental Psychology 36, 366–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koob, GF, Le Moal, M (2006). Alcohol. In Neurobiology of Addiction (ed. Koob, G. F. and Le Moal, M.), pp. 173–242. Academic Press: London, UK.Google Scholar
Macgregor, S, Lind, PA, Bucholz, KK, Hansell, NK, Madden, PA, Richter, MM, Montgomery, GW, Martin, NG, Heath, AC, Whitfield, JB (2009). Associations of ADH and ALDH2 gene variation with self report alcohol reactions, consumption and dependence: an integrated analysis. Human Molecular Genetics 18, 580–593.Google Scholar
Martens, MP, Neighbors, C, Dams-O'Connor, K, Lee, CM, Larimer, ME (2007). The factor structure of a dichotomously scored Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 68, 597–606.Google Scholar
Moffitt, TE (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. Psychology Review 100, 674–701.Google Scholar
Moffitt, TE (2005). The new look of behavioral genetics in developmental psychopathology: gene-environment interplay in antisocial behaviors. Psychological Bulletin 131, 533–554.Google Scholar
Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A, Rutter, M, Silva, PA (2002). Sex Differences in Antisocial Behavior: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Muffler, J, Langrod, J, Larson, DB (1991). ‘There is a balm in Gilead’: religion and substance abuse rehabilitation. In Comprehensive Textbook of Substance Abuse (ed. Lowinson, J. and Ruiz, P.), pp. 584–595. Williams & Wilkins: Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
Rose, RJ, Dick, DM, Viken, RJ, Kaprio, J (2001). Gene–environment interaction in patterns of adolescent drinking: regional residency moderates longitudinal influences on alcohol use. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 25, 637–643.Google Scholar
Rutter, M, Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A (2006). Gene–environment interplay and psychopathology: multiple varieties but real effects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 47, 226–261.Google Scholar
SAS Institute (2008). SAS OnlineDoc Version 9.2. SAS Institute, Inc.: Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Schuckit, MA, Anthenelli, RM, Bucholz, KK, Hesselbrock, VM, Tipp, J (1995). The time course of development of alcohol-related problems in men and women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 56, 218–225.Google Scholar
Shanahan, MJ, Hofer, SM (2005). Social context in gene-environment interactions: retrospect and prospect. Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 60, 65–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sigvardsson, S, Bohman, M, Cloninger, CR (1996). Replication of the Stockholm Adoption Study of alcoholism. Confirmatory cross-fostering analysis. Archives of General Psychiatry 53, 681–687.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L, Fletcher, A, Darling, N (1994). Parental monitoring and peer influences on adolescent substance use. Pediatrics 93, 1060–1064.Google Scholar
Tarter, RE, Hegedus, A (1991). The Drug Use Screening Inventory: evaluation and treatment of alcohol and drug abuse. Alcohol Health & Research World 15, 65–75.Google Scholar
Thornberry, TP, Krohn, MD, Lizotte, AJ, Chard-Wierschem, D (1993). The role of juvenile gangs in facilitating delinquent behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 30, 55–87.Google Scholar
Viken, RJ, Kaprio, J, Rose, RJ (2007). Personality at ages 16 and 17 and drinking problems at ages 18 and 25: genetic analyses of data from Finn Twin16-25. Twin Research and Human Genetics 10, 25–32.Google Scholar
Yoshihama, M, Clum, K, Crampton, A, Gillespie, B (2002). Measuring the lifetime experience of domestic violence: application of the life history calendar method. Violence and Victims 17, 297–317.Google Scholar