Evidence for genetic mediation of alcoholism in women.

This review focuses on the etiology of alcoholism in women, examining the role of genetic vulnerability. The review is organized with respect to (1) the genetic epidemiology of alcoholism in women; (2) genetic models that take gender into account; (3) further discussion of the genetic heterogeneity of alcoholism as it relates to gender; and (4) presentation of data obtained from the Pittsburgh family study. This review concludes that, although much evidence remains to be gathered concerning the question of whether or not alcoholism is genetically mediated to the same degree in women as it is in men, there is no reason to rule out this possibility at the present time.