Genetic Influences on Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Problem Drinking: Results from the Australian NH&MRC TWin Panel

The role of genetic factors in the etiology of alcoholism, particularly alcoholism in women, remains controversial. Findings consistent with an important genetic influence in males on alcoholism risk, or other measures of alcohol problems, have come from studies of adoptees, 1-4 half-siblings,S and monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs.6-13 Negative findings or findings suggesting at most a modest genetic con-tribution to male alcoholism risk have emerged from three adoption samples14 (see also Cadoret, this volume) and three twin samples.l 5--17 Whilst the majority of these studies supports a genetic contribution to male alcoholism risk, the extent to which inconsistencies between studies yielding positive and negative results can be ex-_plained by differences in sociocultural environment, differences in assessment proce-dure (e.g., reliance on official records of hospitalization or temperance board contact versus medical records versus self-report questionnaire versus structured psychiatric interviews), differences in sample ascertainment procedure (epidemiologic sampling versus ascertainment through probands identified through treatment facilities or official records), or merely differences in sample size and consequent statistica