Relationship of Genetics to Alcoholism The purpose of this report was to exam

The methods used to compile the report consisted of database searchers to select relevant articles for review.

The database search revealed that the majority of genetic studies of alcoholism involve examination of family members, twin studies, adoptee studies, and research looking for biogenic markers. Taken as a whole, these studies clearly showed that genetics makes a substantial contribution to the development of alcoholism. However, there are also indications that alcoholism is not a homogeneous but a heterogeneous phenomena with a variety of subtypes. The literature appears to support the notion that some subtypes are more affected by genetics than are others.

What is the relative magnitude of genetics to the development of alcoholism? The purpose of this report is to answer this question by examining the current literature on the tendency of alcoholism to be passed from generation to generation with and without environmental contribution.

Determining the genetic components of alcoholism is important for several reasons. First, between 10 and 15 million Americans suffer from se

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ic probands (mean age 38 years). The evaluation battery included demographic data, childhood adjustment, personality characteristics, neuropsychological functioning, biomedical data, and drinking history. Associations in drinking style were found among family members, particularly those of the same sex and generation. Assortative mating for drinking patterns was indicated by interparent correlations that were higher than those found between each parent and the spouse's same-sex sibling. Alcoholic probands with two problem-drinking parents had a low percentage of moderate-drinking siblings but a high frequency of those who either were abstinent or were problem drinkers. Dinwiddle (1992) presented a comprehensive review of research on the genetics of alcoholism including literature on twin and adoption studies in humans as well as literature on animal research. He concluded that evidence from animal studies (as well as biochemical, electrophysiologic, and psychiatric comorbidity studies of alcoholics and their offspring) indicate the existence of heritable factors predisposing to the development of alcoholism. It was further noted that both twin and adoption studies also support the idea that vulnerability to alcoholism d
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Approximate Word count = 3203
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)