IMPORTANCE: Twin-family studies have shown that parent-child resemblance on substance use disorders and antisocial behavior can be accounted for by the transmission of a general liability to a spectrum of externalizing disorders. Most studies, however, include only biological parents and offspring, which confound genetic and environmental transmission effects. OBJECTIVE: To examine the familial transmission of externalizing disorders among both adoptive (genetically unrelated) and biological relatives to better distinguish genetic and environmental mechanisms of transmission. DESIGN: Family study design wherein each family included the mother, father, and 2 offspring, including monozygotic twin, dizygotic twin, nontwin biological, and adoptive offspring. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate familial transmission effects and their genetic and environmental influences. SETTING: Participants were recruited from the community and assessed at a university laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1590 families with biological offspring and 409 families with adoptive offspring. Offspring participants were young adults (mean age, 26.2 years). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Symptom counts of conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, and alcohol, nicotine, and drug dependence. RESULTS There was a medium effect for the transmission of the general externalizing liability for biological parents (r = 0.27-0.30) but not for adoptive parents (r = 0.03-0.07). In contrast, adoptive siblings exhibited significant similarity on the general externalizing liability (r = 0.21). Biometric analyses revealed that the general externalizing liability was highly heritable (a2 = 0.61) but also exhibited significant shared environmental influences (c2 = 0.20). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Parent-child resemblance for substance use disorders and antisocial behavior is primarily due to the genetic transmission of a general liability to a spectrum of externalizing disorders. Including adoptive siblings revealed a greater role of shared environmental influences on the general externalizing liability than previously detected in twin studies and indicates that sibling rather than parent-child similarity indexes important environmental risk factors for externalizing disorders.
IMPORTANCE: Twin-family studies have shown that parent-child resemblance on substance use disorders and antisocial behavior can be accounted for by the transmission of a general liability to a spectrum of externalizing disorders. Most studies, however, include only biological parents and offspring, which confound genetic and environmental transmission effects. OBJECTIVE: To examine the familial transmission of externalizing disorders among both adoptive (genetically unrelated) and biological relatives to better distinguish genetic and environmental mechanisms of transmission. DESIGN: Family study design wherein each family included the mother, father, and 2 offspring, including monozygotic twin, dizygotic twin, nontwin biological, and adoptive offspring. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate familial transmission effects and their genetic and environmental influences. SETTING:Participants were recruited from the community and assessed at a university laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1590 families with biological offspring and 409 families with adoptive offspring. Offspring participants were young adults (mean age, 26.2 years). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Symptom counts of conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, and alcohol, nicotine, and drug dependence. RESULTS There was a medium effect for the transmission of the general externalizing liability for biological parents (r = 0.27-0.30) but not for adoptive parents (r = 0.03-0.07). In contrast, adoptive siblings exhibited significant similarity on the general externalizing liability (r = 0.21). Biometric analyses revealed that the general externalizing liability was highly heritable (a2 = 0.61) but also exhibited significant shared environmental influences (c2 = 0.20). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Parent-child resemblance for substance use disorders and antisocial behavior is primarily due to the genetic transmission of a general liability to a spectrum of externalizing disorders. Including adoptive siblings revealed a greater role of shared environmental influences on the general externalizing liability than previously detected in twin studies and indicates that sibling rather than parent-child similarity indexes important environmental risk factors for externalizing disorders.
Authors: A C Heath; K K Bucholz; P A Madden; S H Dinwiddie; W S Slutske; L J Bierut; D J Statham; M P Dunne; J B Whitfield; N G Martin Journal: Psychol Med Date: 1997-11 Impact factor: 7.723
Authors: L J Bierut; S H Dinwiddie; H Begleiter; R R Crowe; V Hesselbrock; J I Nurnberger; B Porjesz; M A Schuckit; T Reich Journal: Arch Gen Psychiatry Date: 1998-11
Authors: K R Merikangas; M Stolar; D E Stevens; J Goulet; M A Preisig; B Fenton; H Zhang; S S O'Malley; B J Rounsaville Journal: Arch Gen Psychiatry Date: 1998-11
Authors: Alexis C Edwards; Sara L Lönn; Katherine J Karriker-Jaffe; Jan Sundquist; Kenneth S Kendler; Kristina Sundquist Journal: Addict Behav Date: 2017-03-08 Impact factor: 3.913
Authors: Jaime Derringer; Robin P Corley; Brett C Haberstick; Susan E Young; Brittany A Demmitt; Daniel P Howrigan; Robert M Kirkpatrick; William G Iacono; Matt McGue; Matthew C Keller; Sandra Brown; Susan Tapert; Christian J Hopfer; Michael C Stallings; Thomas J Crowley; Soo Hyun Rhee; Ken Krauter; John K Hewitt; Matthew B McQueen Journal: Behav Genet Date: 2015-01-31 Impact factor: 2.805
Authors: Vivia V McCutcheon; Arpana Agrawal; Sally I-Chun Kuo; Jinni Su; Danielle M Dick; Jacquelyn L Meyers; Howard J Edenberg; John I Nurnberger; John R Kramer; Samuel Kuperman; Marc A Schuckit; Victor M Hesselbrock; Andrew Brooks; Bernice Porjesz; Kathleen K Bucholz Journal: Addiction Date: 2017-09-06 Impact factor: 6.526