Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:10:32.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The causes of parent–offspring transmission of drug abuse: a Swedish population-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2014

K. S. Kendler ,
H. Ohlsson ,
K. Sundquist  and
J. Sundquist
K. S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
H. Ohlsson
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
K. Sundquist
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
J. Sundquist
Affiliation:
Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: K. S. Kendler, M.D., Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics of VCU, Box 980126, Richmond, VA 23298-0126, USA. (Email: kendler@vcu.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

While drug abuse (DA) is strongly familial, we still have limited knowledge about the causes of its cross-generational transmission.

Method

We examined DA ascertained from national registers in offspring of three family types from the Swedish population [intact (n = 2 111 074), ‘not-lived-with’ (n = 165 315, where biological parents never lived with their offspring) and ‘step’ (n = 124 800 offspring)], which reflected, respectively, the effects of genes + rearing, genes only and rearing only. We replicated these results in three high-risk co-relative designs.

Results

Combined across mothers and fathers, the hazard ratio (HR) for DA in offspring given DA in parents was 3.52 in intact, 2.73 in ‘not-lived-with’ and 1.79 in stepfamilies. In 968 biological full or half-sibling pairs one of whom was reared by and the other never lived with their parent with DA, the HR for DA was greater in the reared than ‘not-lived-with’ child (HR 1.57). In 64 offspring pairs of a parent with DA, the HR for DA was greater in a reared biological v. step-parented non-biological child (HR 3.33). In 321 pairs of offspring of a parent with DA one of whom was a not-lived-with biological child and the second a step-parented non-biological child, the HR for DA was greater in the biological v. stepchild (HR 1.80).

Conclusions

Both genetic and environmental factors contribute substantially to parent–offspring resemblance for DA. The general population contains informative family constellations that can complement more traditional adoption designs in clarifying the sources of parent–offspring resemblance.

Keywords

Adoptiondrug abuseenvironmentgeneticsparent–offspring transmissionSweden
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 87 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

APA (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, revised third edn. American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bandura, A (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Bierut, LJ, Dinwiddie, SH, Begleiter, H, Crowe, RR, Hesselbrock, V, Nurnberger, JI Jr, Porjesz, B, Schuckit, MA, Reich, T (1998). Familial transmission of substance dependence: alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and habitual smoking: a report from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 982–988.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, MM, Nair, P, Kight, C, Wachtel, R, Roby, P, Schuler, M (1994). Parenting and early development among children of drug-abusing women: effects of home intervention. Pediatrics 94, 440–448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cadoret, R (1986). Adoption studies: historical and methodological critique. Psychiatric Developments 1, 45–64.Google Scholar
Cadoret, RJ, Yates, WR, Troughton, E, Woodworth, G, Stewart, MA (1995). Adoption study demonstrating two genetic pathways to drug abuse. Archives of General Psychiatry 52, 42–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cadoret, RJ, Yates, WR, Troughton, E, Woodworth, G, Stewart, MA (1996). An adoption study of drug abuse/dependency in females. Comprehensive Psychiatry 37, 88–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Compton, WM, Thomas, YF, Stinson, FS, Grant, BF (2007). Prevalence, correlates, disability, and co-morbidity of DSM-IV drug abuse and dependence in the United States: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 566–576.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faris, RE, Dunham, HW (1939). Mental Disorders in Urban Areas: An Ecological Study of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.Google Scholar
Frank, DA, Rose-Jacobs, R, Crooks, D, Cabral, HJ, Gerteis, J, Hacker, KA, Martin, B, Weinstein, ZB, Heeren, T (2011). Adolescent initiation of licit and illicit substance use: impact of intrauterine exposures and post-natal exposure to violence. Neurotoxicology and Teratology 33, 100–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, JD, Catalano, RF, Miller, JY (1992). Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: implications for substance abuse prevention. Psychological Bulletin 112, 64–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hibell, B, Guttormsson, U, Ahlstrom, S, Balakireva, O, Bjarnason, T, Kokkevi, A, Kraus, L (2007). The 2007 ESPAD Report: Substance Use Among Students in 35 European Countries. The Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN): Stockholm.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Karkowski, LM, Neale, MC, Prescott, CA (2000 a). Illicit psychoactive substance use, heavy use, abuse, and dependence in a US population-based sample of male twins. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 261–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Maes, HH, Sundquist, K, Ohlsson, H, Sundquist, J (2014 a). Genetic and family and community environmental effects on drug abuse in adolescence: a Swedish national twin and sibling study. American Journal of Psychiatry 171, 209–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Myers, J, Prescott, CA (2000 b). Parenting and adult mood, anxiety and substance use disorders in female twins: an epidemiological, multi-informant, retrospective study. Psychological Medicine 30, 281–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Ohlsson, H, Sundquist, K, Sundquist, J (2014 b). Peer deviance, parental divorce and genetic risk in the prediction of drug abuse in a nationwide Swedish sample: evidence for environment–environment and gene–environment interaction. JAMA Psychiatry 71, 439–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Prescott, CA (1998). Cannabis use, abuse, and dependence in a population-based sample of female twins. American Journal of Psychiatry 155, 1016–1022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Sundquist, K, Ohlsson, H, Palmer, K, Maes, H, Winkleby, MA, Sundquist, J (2012). Genetic and familial–environmental influences on risk for drug abuse: a national Swedish adoption study. Archives of General Psychiatry 69, 690–697.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kraus, L, Augustin, R, Frischer, M, Kummler, P, Uhl, A, Wiessing, L (2003). Estimating prevalence of problem drug use at national level in countries of the European Union and Norway. Addiction 98, 471–485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kringlen, E, Torgersen, S, Cramer, V (2001). A Norwegian psychiatric epidemiological study. American Journal of Psychiatry 158, 1091–1098.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liddle, HA, Dakof, GA, Parker, K, Diamond, GS, Barrett, K, Tejeda, M (2001). Multidimensional family therapy for adolescent drug abuse: results of a randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 27, 651–688.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynskey, MT, Heath, AC, Nelson, EC, Bucholz, KK, Madden, PA, Slutske, WS, Statham, DJ, Martin, NG (2002). Genetic and environmental contributions to cannabis dependence in a national young adult twin sample. Psychological Medicine 32, 195–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantel, N, Haenszel, W (1959). Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 22, 719–748.Google ScholarPubMed
Merikangas, KR, Stolar, M, Stevens, DE, Goulet, J, Preisig, MA, Fenton, B, Zhang, H, O'Malley, SS, Rounsaville, BJ (1998). Familial transmission of substance use disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 973–979.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muntaner, C, Eaton, WW, Diala, C, Kessler, RC, Sorlie, PD (1998). Social class, assets, organizational control and the prevalence of common groups of psychiatric disorders. Social Science and Medicine 47, 2043–2053.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, K, Harrison, L, Dashiff, C, Davies, S (2008). Relationships between parenting styles and risk behaviors in adolescent health: an integrative literature review. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem 16, 142–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Otowa, T, Gardner, CO, Kendler, KS, Hettema, JM (2013). Parenting and risk for mood, anxiety and substance use disorders: a study in population-based male twins. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 43, 1841–1849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rounsaville, BJ, Kosten, TR, Weissman, MM, Prusoff, B, Pauls, D, Anton, SF, Merikangas, K (1991). Psychiatric disorders in relatives of probands with opiate addiction. Archives of General Psychiatry 48, 33–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanders, MR (2000). Community-based parenting and family support interventions and the prevention of drug abuse. Addiction Behavior 25, 929–942.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stein, JA, Newcomb, MD, Bentler, PM (1993). Differential effects of parent and grandparent drug use on behavior problems of male and female children. Developmental Psychology 29, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinberg, L, Fletcher, A, Darling, N (1994). Parental monitoring and peer influences on adolescent substance use. Pediatrics 93, 1060–1064.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsuang, MT, Lyons, MJ, Eisen, SA, Goldberg, J, True, W, Lin, N, Meyer, JM, Toomey, R, Faraone, SV, Eaves, L (1996). Genetic influences on DSM-III-R drug abuse and dependence: a study of 3,372 twin pairs. American Journal of Medical Genetics 67, 473–477.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Bree, MB, Johnson, EO, Neale, MC, Pickens, RW (1998). Genetic and environmental influences on drug use and abuse/dependence in male and female twins. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 52, 231–241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van den Bree, MB, Pickworth, WB (2005). Risk factors predicting changes in marijuana involvement in teenagers. Archives of General Psychiatry 62, 311–319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warner, LA, Kessler, RC, Hughes, M, Anthony, JC, Nelson, CB (1995). Prevalence and correlates of drug use and dependence in the United States. Results from the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry 52, 219–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wills, TA, Dishion, TJ (2004). Temperament and adolescent substance use: a transactional analysis of emerging self-control. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 33, 69–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2010). Atlas on substance use (2010): resources for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders. NLM classification: WM 270 (http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/msbatlasfrontncont.pdf). Accessed April 2014.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Kendler Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Kendler Supplementary Material(File)
File 42 KB