Association of smoking and personality with a polymorphism of the dopamine transporter gene: results from a community survey.

In studies that used mixed volunteer samples, Lerman et al. [1999: Health Psychol 18:14-20] and Sabol et al. [1999: Health Psychol 18:7-13] reported on an association of smoking with a polymorphism of the dopamine transporter gene. We attempted to replicate this association in a nonvolunteer community sample of 861 Caucasians. No associations were found with either smoking initiation or smoking cessation. Sabol et al. [1999] also reported on an association of the dopamine transporter polymorphism with the personality trait of novelty seeking. However, we failed to find any associations with a range of personality traits, including a scale of fun seeking that correlates with novelty seeking. These negative findings suggest that either the original associations are not replicable or that any association is very small.