Causes of variation in drinking habits in a large twin sample

Abstract

A genetic analysis of alcohol consumption in 3810 pairs of adult twins is reported. When no correction was made for age, individual environmental variance, including non-repeatable errors of reporting, accounted for approximately 44% of variation in both sexes. In females, there was no evidence of shared environmental effects and 56% of the variance was genetic in origin. In males, only 36% of the variance was genetic and common environmental effects accounted for the remaining 20% of individual differences. For females, the results for younger (30 years and under) and older (over 30) twins were similar. For males, however, the effect of age was striking. In younger male twins over 60% of the variance was genetic in origin, with the remaining variance due to environmental influences unique to the individual. In older twins genetic differences do not appear to be important, with approximately 50% of the total variance due to individual environmental differences and the remaining 50% due to the effect of the common family environment. Our results suggest that both age and sex need to be considered when analysing the causes of variation in alcohol consumption.