THE GENETIC CORRELATION BETWEEN IMPULSIVITY AND SENSATION SEEKING TRAITS

A number of studies have demonstrated associations between sensation s eeking traits and measures of impulsivity. This study examined genetic contributions to the observed correlations between imupulsivity and s ensation seeking traits. Fifty-seven pairs of identical and 49 pairs o f fraternal twins who were reared apart and 90 individuals who also pa rticipated in the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart completed the Control scale of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen, 1982) and the four subscales of the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS; Zuckerman, 1979). Consistent with previous studies, the Control scale was significantly correlated with the SSS. A Cholesky decomposit ion of the data indicated that the phenotypic correlations between the Control scale and the four subscales of the SSS were mediated almost entirely by genetic factors. In the final reduced model the proportion of the genetic variance of the Control scale in common with the SSS w as estimated as 55%, and the rest of the genetic variance (45%) was at tributed to the genetic variance specific to the Control scale. The re sults emphasize the importance of common biological mechanisms underly ing associations between impulsivity and sensation seeking traits.