USE & ABUSE OF ALCOHOL--A BEHAVIOR-GENETICS PERSPECTIVE

本次申请的研究科学家奖将 支持一项关于使用中个体差异原因的研究计划 和酗酒 信息量大、功能强大的行为遗传学方法 并将分析应用于广泛的双胞胎家庭队列确定 在印第安纳州和芬兰。 芬兰的遗传流行病学调查 包括一项关于酒精消费五年纵向研究， 与酒精相关的态度，期望和个性倾向， 3,200对16岁的双胞胎和他们的家人;一个平行的 对芬兰双胞胎儿童的调查，最初在8岁时进行测试， 10和12，将评估遗传和家庭对前体的影响， 酒精滥用的攻击性和反社会行为。 成人芬兰语 研究将集中在饮酒模式，性格， 双胞胎父母亲属的性格和相关行为;后代 的同卵双胞胎形成遗传上的半同胞关系， 分离的家庭，并详细研究将作出的成年后代的 因酒精相关疾病而不和谐的双胞胎父母。 实验室 印第安纳州的双胞胎研究包括急性行为的遗传分析， 认知和主观反应的非中毒性酒精挑战 在年轻的成年双胞胎中， 滥用;这些研究将评估候选标记物 有酗酒家族史的变量，并分析 假定遗传标记的重复性和遗传力 血液酒精含量。 RSA奖将允许申请人 把他的全部精力投入到这些研究项目中，开发新的 研究合作，并将为他提供丰富的机会， 获得结构建模和定量方面的专业培训 基因分析，以充分利用他收集的大量数据。 的 这些努力的目的是确定同侪和家庭的影响，生活 事件和性格倾向，这些都是早期启动的基础。 高密度饮酒;评估遗传和家庭因素 青春期/成年早期适度饮酒的排序 之后，他又继续酗酒，并评估基因和 青年社会所表现出的个体变异的生活史来源 饮酒者对非中毒性酒精挑战剂量的反应。 的 申请人的研究计划的目标是促进我们的理解， 遗传和家庭环境因素导致酒精中毒

The Research Scientist Award for which this application is made will support a program of research on the causes of individual variation in use and abuse of alcohol. Informative and robust behavioral-genetic methods and analyses will be applied to extensive twin-family cohorts ascertained in Indiana and Finland. Genetic-epidemiological investigations in Finland include a five-year longitudinal study of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related attitudes, expectations, and personality dispositions in 3,200 pairs of 16 year-old twins and their families; a parallel investigation of Finnish twin children, to be initially tested at ages 8, 10, and 12, will assess genetic and familial influences on precursors of alcohol abuse in aggressive and antisocial behaviors. Adult Finnish studies will focus on patterns of alcohol consumption, personality dispositions, and related behaviors in kinships of twin parents; offspring of identical twins form genetic half-sibships socially reared as cousins in separate households, and detailed study will be made of adult offspring of twin parents who are discordant for alcohol-related disease. Laboratory twin studies in Indiana include genetic analyses of acute behavioral, cognitive, and subjective reactions to a non-intoxicating alcohol challenge among young adult twins who are classified by familial history of alcohol abuse; these studies will assess the association of candidate marker variables with familial history of alcohol abuse and analyze the repeatability and heritability of putative genetic markers at defined levels of blood alcohol content. The RSA award will permit the applicant to devote his full efforts to these research programs, to develop new research collaborations, and will provide enriched opportunities for him to acquire specialized training in structural modeling and quantitative genetic analysis to fully exploit the extensive data he is collecting. The aims of these efforts are to identify peer and familial influences, life events, and personality dispositions that underlie early initiation of high-density drinking; to evaluate genetic and familial factors in sequencing from moderate use of alcohol during adolescence/early adulthood to sustained, abusive drinking thereafter; and to assess genetic and life-history sources of the individual variation exhibited by young social drinkers in response to a nonintoxicating challenge dose of alcohol. The goal of the applicant's research program is to advance our understanding of genetic and familial-environmental pathways to alcoholism.