Abstract
Are genetic and environmental risks for adolescent substance use specific to individual substances or general across substance classes? We examined this question in 645 monozygotic twin pairs, 702 dizygotic twin pairs, 429 biological sibling pairs, and 96 adoptive (biologically unrelated) sibling pairs ascertained from community-based samples, and ranging in age from 12 to 18 years. Substance use patterns and symptoms were assessed using structured psychiatric interviews. Biometrical model fitting was carried out using age- and sex-specific thresholds for (a) repeated use and (b) problem use, defined as one or more DSM-IV symptoms of abuse or dependence. We hypothesized that problem use would be more heritable than use in adolescence, and that both genetic and environmental risks underlying tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and problem use would be significantly correlated. Results of univariate analyses suggested significant heritable factors for use and problem use for all substances with the exception of alcohol use. Shared environmental factors were important in all cases and special twin environmental factors were significant for tobacco use, tobacco problem use, and alcohol use. Multivariate analyses yielded significant genetic correlations between each of the substances (for both levels studied), and significant shared environmental correlations among use variables only. Our results suggest that tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana problem use are mediated by common genetic influences, but shared environmental influences may be more substance-specific for problem use.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
APA. (1994). Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
Bierut L. J., Dinwiddie S. H., Begleiter H., Crowe R. R., Hesselbrock V., Nurnberger J. I., Porjesz B., Schuckit M. A., Reich T. (1998). Familial transmission of substance dependence: Alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and habitual smoking. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 55:982–988
Bucholz K. K., Heath A. C., Madden P. A. (2000). Transitions in drinking in adolescent females: evidence from the Missouri adolescent female twin study. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 24:914–923
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2000). CDC Surveillance Summaries, June 9, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2000; 49 (No.SS-5)
Chen C. Y., Anthony J. C. (2003). Possible age-associated bias in reporting of clinical features of drug dependence: epidemiological evidence on adolescent-onset marijuana use. Addiction 98:71–82
Cottler L. B., Schuckit M. A., Helzer J. E., Crowley T. J., Woody G., Nathan P., Hughes J. (1995). The DSM-IV field trial for substance use disorders: Major results. Drug Alcohol Depend. 38:59–69
Cottler L. B., Keating S. B. (1990). Operationalization of alcohol and drug dependence criteria by means of a structured interview. Recent. Dev. Alcohol 8: 69–83
Crowley T. J., Mikulich S. K., Ehlers K. M., Whitmore E. A., MacDonald M. J. (2001). Validity of structured clinical evaluations in adolescents with conduct and substance problems. J. Am. Acad. Child. Adolesc. Psychiatry 40:265–273
DeFries J. C., Plomin R., Fulker D. W. (eds) (1994) Nature and Nurture During Middle Childhood. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK, ch. 2
Ehringer, M. A. Rhee, S. H., Young, S. E., Corley, R. P., and Hewitt, J. K. (2006). Genetic and environmental contributions to common psychopathologies of childhood and adolescence: a study of twins and their siblings. J. Ab. Child Psychol. Pre-published online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-9000-0
Grant B. F., Dawson D. A. (1998). Age of onset of drug use and its association with DSM-IV drug abuse and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. J. Subst. Abuse 10:163–173
Han C., McGue M. K., Iacono W. G. (1999). Lifetime tobacco, alcohol and other substance use in adolescent Minnesota twins: univariate and multivariate behavioral genetic analyses. Addiction 94:981–993
Hopfer C. J., Crowley T. J., Hewitt J. K. (2003). Review of twin and adoption studies of adolescent substance use. J. Am. Acad. Child. Adolesc. Psychiatry 42:710–719
Horton J., Compton W., Cottler L. B. (2000). Reliability of substance use disorder diagnoses among African-Americans and Caucasians. Drug Alcohol Depend. 57:203–209
Johnston L. D., O’Malley P.M., Bachman J. G. (2001). Monitoring the Future National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2000. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD (NIH Publication No. 01–4923)
Kandel D., Chen K., Warner L. A., Kessler R. C., Grant B. (1997). Prevalence and demographic correlates of symptoms of last year dependence on alcohol, nicotine, marijuana and cocaine in the U.S. population. Drug Alcohol Depend. 44:11–29
Kaprio J., Koskenvuo M., Langinvainio H., Romanov K., Sarna S., Rose R. J. (1987). Genetic influences on use and abuse of alcohol: a study of 5638 adult Finnish twin brothers. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 11:349–356
Karkowski L. M., Prescott C. A., Kendler K. S. (2000). Multivariate assessment of factors influencing illicit substance use in twins from female–female pairs. Am. J. Med. Genet. 96:665–670
Kendler K. S., Gardner C. O. Jr. (1998). Twin studies of adult psychiatric and substance dependence disorders: are they biased by differences in the environmental experiences of monozygotic and dizygotic twins in childhood and adolescence? Psych. Med. 28:625–633
Kendler K. S., Karkowski L., Corey L. A., Prescott C. A., Neale M. C. (1999). Genetic and environmental risk factors in the aetiology of illicit drug initiation and subsequent problem use in women. Br. J. Psychiatry 175:351–356
Kendler K. S., Prescott C. A., Myers J., Neale M. C. (2003a). The structure of genetic and environmental risk factors for common psychiatric and substance use disorders in men and women. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 60:929–937
Kendler K. S., Jacobson K. C., Prescott C. A., Neale M. C. (2003b). Specificity of genetic and environmental risk factors for use and abuse/dependence of cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, sedatives, stimulants and opiates in male twins. Am. J. Psychiatry 160:687–695
Koopmans, J. R., Slutske, W. S., Heath, A. C., Neale, M. C., and Boomsma, D. I. (1999). The genetics of smoking initiation and quantity smoked in Dutch adolescent and young adult twins. Behav. Genet. 29:383–393.
Koopmans J. R., van Doornen L. J., Boomsma D. I., (1997). Association between alcohol use and smoking in adolescent and young adult twins: a bivariate genetic analysis. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 21:537–546
Maes H. H., Woodard C. E., Murrelle L., Meyer J. M., Silberg J. L., Hewitt J. K., Rutter M., Simonoff E., Pickles A., Carbonneau R., Neale M. C., Eaves L. J. (1999). Tobacco, alcohol and drug use in eight- to sixteen-year-old twins: the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development. J. Stud. Alcohol 60:293–305
McGue M., Elkins I., Iacono W. G. (2000). Genetic and environmental influences on adolescent substance use and abuse. Am. J. Med. Genet. 96:671–677
McGue M., Iacono W. G., Legrand L. N., Malone S., Elkins I. (2001). Origins and consequences of age at first drink. I. Associations with substance-use disorders, disinhibitory behavior and psychopathology, and P3 amplitude. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 25:1156–1165
McGue M., Pickens R. W., Svikis D. S. (1992). Sex and age effects on the inheritance of alcohol problems: a twin study. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 101:3–17
McGue, M., Sharma, A., and Benson, P. (1996). Parent and sibling influences on adolescent alcohol use and misuse: evidence from a U.S. adoption cohort. J. Stud. Alcohol 57:8–18.
Meller W. H., Rinehart R., Cadoret R., Troughton E. (1988). Specific familial transmission in substance abuse. Int. J. Addict. 23:1029–1039
Merikangas K. R., Stolar M., Stevens D. E., Goulet J., Preisig M. A., Fenton B. et al. (1998). Familial transmission of substance use disorders. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 55:973–979
Miles, D. R., van den Bree, M. B., Gupman, A. E., Newlin D. B., Glantz, M. D., and Pickens, R. W. (2001). A twin study on sensation seeking, risk taking behavior and marijuana use. Drug Alcohol Depend. 62:57–68.
Miles D. R., van den Bree M. B., Pickens R. W. (2002). Sex differences in shared genetic and environmental influences between conduct disorder symptoms and marijuana use in adolescents. Am. J. Med. Genet. 114:159–168
Neale M. C., Boker S. M., Xie G., Maes H. H. (1999) Mx: Statistical Modeling. Dept. of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond
Nichols R. C., Bilbro W. C. (1966). The diagnosis of twin zygosity. Acta. Genet. Med. Gemellol. 16:265–275
Penninkilampi-Kerola V., Kaprio J., Moilanen I., Rose R. J. (2005). Co-twin dependence modifies heritability of abstinence and alcohol use: a population-based study of Finnish twins. Twin Res. Hum. Genet. 8: 232–244
Rhee S. H., Hewitt J. K., Young S. E., Corley R. P., Crowley T. J., Neale M. C., Stallings M. C. (2003a). The etiology of comorbidity in substance dependence in adolescents. Behav. Genet. 33:715
Rhee S. H., Hewitt J. K., Corley R. P., Stallings M. C. (2003b). The validity of analyses testing the etiology of comorbidity between two disorders: comparisons of disorder prevalences in families. Behav. Genet. 33:257–269
Rhee S. H., Hewitt J. K., Young S. E., Corley R. P., Crowley T. J., Stallings M. C. (2003c). Genetic and environmental influences on risk for substance use disorders in adolescents. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 60:1256–1264
Rhee, S. H., Hewitt, J. K., Young, S. E., Corley, R. P., Crowley, T. J., Neale, M. C., and Stallings, M. C. (2006). Comorbidity between alcohol dependence and illicit drug dependence in adolescents with antisocial behavior and matched controls. Drug Alcohol Depend. (Epub available ahead of print).
Robinson J. L., McGrath J., Corley R. P. (2001). The conduct of the study: sample and procedures. In: Emde R. N., Hewitt J. K. (eds) Infancy and Early Childhood, Genetic and Environmental Influences on Developmental Change. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 23–41
Rose, R. J. (1998). A developmental behavior-genetic perspective on alcoholism risk. Alcohol Health Res. World 22:131–143.
Rose R. J., Dick D. M., Viken R. J., Pulkkinen L., Kaprio J. (2001). Drinking or abstaining at age 14? A genetic epidemiological study. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 25:1594–1604
SPSS, Inc (1990). SPSS Base System Users Guide. 444 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
Stallings M. C., Hewitt J. K., Lessem J. M., Young S. E., Corley R. P., Mikulich S. K. et al. (2001). Modeling the familial transmission of alcohol dependence symptom counts in clinical and control family pedigrees. Behav. Genet. 31:470
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2001). Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-13, DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 01–3549. Rockville, MD.
True W. R., Heath A. C., Scherrer J. F., Xian H., Lin N., Eisen S. A. et al. (1999). Interrelationship of genetic and environmental influences on conduct disorder and alcohol and marijuana dependence symptoms. Am. J. Med. Genet. 88: 391–397
Tsuang, M. T., Lyons M. J., Eisen S. A., Goldberg, J., True, W., Lin, N., Meyer, J. M., Toomey, R., Faraone, S. V., and Eaves L. (1996). Genetic influences on DSM-III-R drug abuse and dependence: a study of 3,372 twin pairs. Am. J. Med. Genet. 67:473–477.
Tsuang M. T., Lyons M. J., Meyer J. M., Doyle T., Eisen S. A., Goldberg J. et al. (1998). Co-occurrence of abuse of different drugs in men: The role of drug-specific and shared vulnerabilities. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 55:967–972
Viken R. J., Kaprio J., Koskenvuo M., Rose R. J. (1999). Longitudinal analyses of the determinants of drinking and of drinking to intoxication in adolescent twins. Behav. Genet. 29:455–461
Young S. E., Corley R. P., Stallings M. C., Rhee S. H., Crowley T. J., Hewitt J. K. (2002). Substance use, abuse and dependence in adolescence: prevalence, symptom profiles and correlates. Drug Alcohol Depend. 68:309–322
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has been supported in part by the following NIH grants: DA-13956, DA-12845, DA-11015, MH-01865, and HD-10333.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Young, S.E., Rhee, S., Stallings, M.C. et al. Genetic and Environmental Vulnerabilities Underlying Adolescent Substance Use and Problem Use: General or Specific?. Behav Genet 36, 603–615 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9066-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9066-7