The goal of the project is to determine the effects of familial environment, non-familial environment, and genetic factors on the etiology and course of drug abuse and dependence. There have been a number of family studies, one adoption study, and no rigorous twin studies of genetic factors in drug abuse/dependence. The identification of environmental factors involved in the etiology and maintenance of drug abuse/dependence has implications for treatment and prevention. The identification of genetic factors has potential for identifying high risk groups. The project will use the Vietman Era Veterans Twin Registry, comprising 6000 pairs, compiled by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Data will be collected by the Institute for Survey Research under subcontract to NAS. Data will be collected in 3 stages. The first stage will be a questionnaire mailed to all twins eliciting information on personal history and screening information on drug use and mood and antisocial personality disorders. In stages II, 4916 subjects, including all of those screened positive for drug use, will be included. Data collection entails structured telephone interviews for diagnosing drug abuse and dependence and mood and antisocial personality disorders. Stage III will include 2000 of the subjects using a mailed questionnaire to identify putative risk/protective factors. These data will be relevant for assessing if: (1) different drugs are influenced differently by familial, nonfamilial, and genetic factors; (2) different types of problematic use of the same drug are influenced differently by familial, nonfamilial, and genetic factors; (3) groups of drugs can be identified that are under the control of the same familial, nonfamilial, and genetic factors; (4) psychiatric morbidity mediates the genetic influence on drug abuse/dependence; (5) environmental risk/protective factors can be identified.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA004604-02
Application #
3210350
Study Section
Drug Abuse Epidemiology and Prevention Research Review Committee (DAPA)
Project Start
1989-04-01
Project End
1994-12-31
Budget Start
1990-12-01
Budget End
1991-12-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1991
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard University
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
082359691
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Tsai, Melyssa; Mori, Alaina M; Forsberg, Christopher W et al. (2013) The Vietnam Era Twin Registry: a quarter century of progress. Twin Res Hum Genet 16:429-36
Grant, Michael D; Kremen, William S; Jacobson, Kristen C et al. (2010) Does parental education have a moderating effect on the genetic and environmental influences of general cognitive ability in early adulthood? Behav Genet 40:438-46
Lyons, Michael; Hitsman, Brian; Xian, Hong et al. (2008) A twin study of smoking, nicotine dependence, and major depression in men. Nicotine Tob Res 10:97-108
Fu, Qiang; Heath, Andrew C; Bucholz, Kathleen K et al. (2007) Common genetic risk of major depression and nicotine dependence: the contribution of antisocial traits in a United States veteran male twin cohort. Twin Res Hum Genet 10:470-8
Kremen, William S; Koenen, Karestan C; Boake, Corwin et al. (2007) Pretrauma cognitive ability and risk for posttraumatic stress disorder: a twin study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64:361-8
Xian, Hong; Scherrer, Jeffrey F; Eisen, Seth A et al. (2007) Nicotine dependence subtypes: association with smoking history, diagnostic criteria and psychiatric disorders in 5440 regular smokers from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry. Addict Behav 32:137-47
Kremen, William S; Lyons, Michael J; Boake, Corwin et al. (2006) A discordant twin study of premorbid cognitive ability in schizophrenia. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 28:208-24
Lyons, Michael J; Schultz, Mark; Neale, Michael et al. (2006) Specificity of familial vulnerability for alcoholism versus major depression in men. J Nerv Ment Dis 194:809-17
Beseler, Cheryl; Jacobson, Kristen C; Kremen, William S et al. (2006) Is there heterogeneity among syndromes of substance use disorder for illicit drugs? Addict Behav 31:929-47
Koenen, Karestan C; Fu, Qiang John; Lyons, Michael J et al. (2005) Juvenile conduct disorder as a risk factor for trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder. J Trauma Stress 18:23-32

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