Etiologic connections among substance dependence, antisocial behavior and personality: Modeling the externalizing spectrum.

TLDR

The authors conceptualize a spectrum of personality and psychopathology unified by an externalizing factor linked to each phenotype, with additional specific factors distinguishing phenotypes. The study aims to develop a hierarchical biometric model explaining the comorbidity among substance dependence, antisocial behavior, and disinhibited personality style. The model employs a hierarchical biometric framework to map genetic and environmental contributions to the externalizing spectrum. The model, fitted to self‑report and mother‑report data from 1,048 17‑year‑old twins, revealed that the externalizing factor is predominantly genetic while distinctions among phenotypes involve both genetic and environmental influences, thereby reconciling general and specific causal evidence and highlighting the externalizing factor as a novel research target.

Abstract

A hierarchical biometric model is presented of the origins of comorbidity among substance dependence, antisocial behavior, and a disinhibited personality style. The model posits a spectrum of personality and psychopathology, united by an externalizing factor linked to each phenotype within the spectrum, as well as specific factors that account for distinctions among phenotypes within the spectrum. This model fit self-report and mother-report data from 1,048 male and female 17-year-old twins. The variance of the externalizing factor was mostly genetic, but both genetic and environmental factors accounted for distinctions among phenotypes within the spectrum. These results reconcile evidence for general and specific causal factors within the externalizing spectrum and offer the externalizing factor as a novel target for future research.