ABSTRACT
The development of problems with substances like tobacco and alcohol is due in part to genes, environment factors, and their interaction. Understanding genetic factors and gene-environment interactions informs diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of addictive behaviors. In this chapter, we review two organizing conceptual frameworks that inform practice and allow social work researchers to play essential roles in integrating evidence of genetic factors along with various environmental factors in shaping the onset and progression of substance use. Applying a developmental framework and evidence from genetic studies, we discuss how substance misuse and related behaviors result from the changing influence of genes and gene-environment interactions as individuals mature from adolescence into adulthood. We review both behavioral genetic and measured gene-environment interaction studies of alcohol and tobacco use behaviors that have examined these mechanisms using twin study designs and studies applying molecular methods to examine genetic variation across the genome, in a given region, or at a specific marker.
