Genetic and shared environmental factors explain the association between adolescent polysubstance use and high school noncompletion.

Objective: Examine the nature of the relationship between adolescent polysubstance use and high school noncompletion.

Method: Among a sample of 9,579 adult Australian twins (58.63% female, = 30.

Educational Attainment Polygenic Scores: Examining Evidence for Gene-Environment Interplay with Adolescent Alcohol, Tobacco and Cannabis Use.

Genes associated with educational attainment may be related to or interact with adolescent alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use. Potential gene-environment interplay between educational attainment polygenic scores (EA-PGS) and adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use was evaluated with a series of regression models fitted to data from a sample of 1871 adult Australian twins. All models controlled for age, age, cohort, sex and genetic ancestry as fixed effects, and a genetic relatedness matrix was included as a random effect.

Adolescent substance use and high school noncompletion: exploring the nature of the relationship using a discordant twin design.

Background And Aims: Previous studies have demonstrated associations between substance use and reduced educational attainment; however, many were unable to account for potential confounding factors like genetics and the rearing environment. In the few studies that controlled for these factors, the substances assessed were limited to alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco. To address these limitations, we examined the relationship between adolescent use of seven kinds of substances, the number of additional substances used, and high school noncompletion within a large sample of Australian twins.

Cohort profile: the Australian genetics of depression study.

Purpose: Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder and the largest contributor to global disability. The Australian Genetics of Depression study was established to recruit a large cohort of individuals who have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime. The purpose of establishing this cohort is to investigate genetic and environmental risk factors for depression and response to commonly prescribed antidepressants.

Potential Causal Influence of Neighborhood Disadvantage on Disordered Gambling: Evidence From a Multilevel Discordant Twin Design.

The quality of the neighborhood in which one lives has been linked to disordered gambling (DG), but whether this reflects a causal relation has not yet been empirically examined. Participants were 3,450 Australian twins who completed assessments of past-year DG and personality and for whom census-derived indicators of disadvantage were used to characterize their neighborhood. Multilevel models were employed to estimate within-twin-pair and betweentwin-pair effects of neighborhood disadvantage on DG, with the within-twin-pair effect representing a potentially causal association and the between-twin-pair effect representing a noncausal association.

Big Five personality traits and alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and gambling disorder comorbidity.

The ; 5th ed.) reassignment of gambling disorder as an addictive disorder alongside the substance-related addictive disorders encourages research into their shared etiologies. The aims of this study were to examine: (a) the associations of Big Five personality dimensions with alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and gambling disorders, (b) the comorbidity between these disorders, (c) the extent to which common personality underpinnings explain comorbidity, (d) whether results differed for men and women, and (e) the magnitude of personality differences corresponding to the 4 disorders.

A Multivariate Behavior Genetic Investigation of Dual-Systems Models of Alcohol Involvement.

Objective: Dual-systems models hypothesize that individuals who tend to be drawn to risky behavior and are low in self-control are at greatest risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Importantly, these models assume that behavioral approach tendencies and self-control are distinct. This study investigated hypotheses and assumptions central to dual-systems models.

The Mini Alcohol Craving Experience Questionnaire: Development and Clinical Application.

Background: Standardized alcohol craving scales are rarely used outside of research environments despite recognized clinical utility. Scale length is a key barrier to more widespread application. A brief measure of alcohol craving is needed to improve research and treatment of alcohol use disorders (AUDs).

Age at first use and later substance use disorder: Shared genetic and environmental pathways for nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis.

Behavioral genetic studies have provided insights into why early substance use initiation is associated with increased risk for disorder. Few genetically informative studies, however, have operationalized initiation as the timing of first use and simultaneously modeled the timing of initiation and problematic use of multiple substances. Such research can help capture the risk associated with early initiation and determine the extent to which genetic and environmental risk generalizes across substances.

The variance shared across forms of childhood trauma is strongly associated with liability for psychiatric and substance use disorders.

Introduction: Forms of childhood trauma tend to co-occur and are associated with increased risk for psychiatric and substance use disorders. Commonly used binary measures of trauma exposure have substantial limitations.

Methods: We performed multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), separately by sex, using data from the Childhood Trauma (CT) Study's sample of twins and siblings (N = 2594) to derive three first-order factors (childhood physical abuse, childhood sexual abuse, and parental partner abuse) and, as hypothesized, one higher order, childhood trauma factor (CTF) representing a measure of their common variance.

Local area disadvantage and gambling involvement and disorder: Evidence for gene-environment correlation and interaction.

Previous research has demonstrated that local area characteristics (such as disadvantage and gambling outlet density) and genetic risk factors are associated with gambling involvement and disordered gambling. These 2 lines of research were brought together in the present study by examining the extent to which genetic contributions to individual differences in gambling involvement and disorder contributed to being exposed to, and were also accentuated by, local area disadvantage. Participants were members of the national community-based Australian Twin Registry who completed a telephone interview in which the past-year frequency of gambling and symptoms of disordered gambling were assessed.

Telescoping and gender differences in the time course of disordered gambling: evidence from a general population sample.

Background And Aim: The course of disordered gambling in women has been described as 'telescoped' compared with that in men, with a later age at initiation of gambling but shorter times from initiation to disorder. This study examined the evidence, for the first time, for such a telescoping effect in a general population rather than a treatment-seeking sample.

Method: Participants in a large community-based Australian twin cohort (2001 men, 2662 women) were assessed by structured diagnostic telephone interviews in which they reported the ages at which they had attained various gambling milestones and additional information to be used as covariates (the types of gambling in which they had participated and history of symptoms of alcohol dependence, major depression, and adult antisocial behavior).

Genetic influences on alcohol-related hangover.

Aims: To quantify the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to alcohol hangover.

Design: Biometric models were used to partition the variance in hangover phenotypes.

Setting: A community-based sample of Australian twins.

Genetic variation in personality traits explains genetic overlap between borderline personality features and substance use disorders.

Aims: To examine the genetic overlap between borderline personality features (BPF) and substance use disorders (SUDs) and the extent to which variation in personality traits contributes to this covariance.

Design: Genetic structural equation modelling was used to partition the variance in and covariance between personality traits, BPF and SUDs into additive genetic, shared and individual-specific environmental factors.

Setting: All participants were registered with the Australian Twin Registry.

Test of a potential causal influence of earlier age of gambling initiation on gambling involvement and disorder: a multilevel discordant twin design.

The premise that an association between an earlier age of gambling initiation and the later development of disordered gambling is causal has not yet been empirically examined. The current study used a multilevel discordant twin design to examine the nature of this association. Participants were 3,546 same-sex twins (mean age = 37.

The craving experience questionnaire: a brief, theory-based measure of consummatory desire and craving.

Background And Aims: Research into craving is hampered by lack of theoretical specification and a plethora of substance-specific measures. This study aimed to develop a generic measure of craving based on elaborated intrusion (EI) theory. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) examined whether a generic measure replicated the three-factor structure of the Alcohol Craving Experience (ACE) scale over different consummatory targets and time-frames.