Program & Abstract Book - EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009

EPFL Latsis Symposium 2009: Understanding Violence
P-52
106
February 11-13 2009
ge n e -e n v i r o n m e n t a l i n t e r p l a y o n t h e
a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n a g g r e s s i v e b e h a v i o r
a n D a l c o h o l D e p e n D e n c e
von der Pahlen, Bettina 1 ; Johansson, Ada 1 ; Sandnabba, N.
Kenneth 1 ; Santtila, Pekka 1
1 Center of Excellence in Behavior Genetics, Department of Psychology,
Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
We investigated the interplay between genetic and environmental effects
on the association between alcohol dependence and aggressive behaviour
as well as sex differences in this interplay. There were 3141 male (mean
age 26.2 [S.E. = 0.1]) and 6026 female (mean age 26.1[S.E. = 0.1]) participants
in this extended twin study. Alcohol Use Disorder Identification
Test (AUDIT), and two subscales of Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) were
used to assess the phenotypes. The phenotypes were positively associated
with men exhibiting higher levels on both phenotypes. In the model fitting,
we explored first how the level of alcohol use moderated the genetic
and environmental effects on aggressive behaviour separately for men
and women. Second, we explored in similar fashion how the level of aggressive
behaviour moderated the genetic and environmental effects on
alcohol dependence. The implications of the results for understanding the
connection between these two phenotypes will be discussed.