a behavior that is due to genetics or heritability and that which is due to environmental factors. The authors further state that inconsistent findings in the literature are based on studies that lack clear definition of alcohol problems, use a broad index of substance use, or small sample sizes (Jang et al., pp. 1265-1266).
Heath, Madden, Bucholz, Dinwiddie, Slutske, Bierut, Rohrbaugh, Statham, Dunne, Whitfield, and Martin (1999) further studied alcohol sensitivity and inheritance of risk with telephone interview follow-up data with twins from two studies (alcohol challenge study in 1979-1981; Australian twin panel survey in 1980-1982). Findings showed that men were at an increased genetic risk of alcohol dependence with a reduced alcohol sensitivity, and women were not associated with the same degree of risk (p. 1069).
In 1996, Crum and Harris examined data from a population-based study in which 384 had alcohol abuse or dependence. They reported that evidence showed gender differences regarding risk of alcoholic offspring, related to parental history of heavy drinking and depression (p. 329).
Alcohol expectancies may be affected by gender as well as age and family history. Lundahl, Davis, Adesso, and Lukas (1997) studied a population of college students to investigate alcohol expectancies. For their study, the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire was given to 627 college students who referred to themselves as heavy drinkers. Findings showed that both male and female subjects, younger than 20 years of age, reported greater expectancies regarding positive effects, sexual enhancement, increased power, aggression, and social assertion, than those over age 20, for both males and females. Females over age 20 reported lower expectancies than all other subjects of both sexes (p. 115).
Ricciardelli and Williams (1997) further studied students and drinking expectancies. They report that women have been drinking larger amo...