ENVIRONMENTAL AND GENETIC INFLUENCES ON ALCOHOL-USE IN A VOLUNTEER SAMPLE OF OLDER TWINS

A growing literature supports genetic contributions to familial resemb lance for alcohol use characteristics, but few studies have focused on the mechanisms underlying alcohol use among older persons. We report patterns of alcohol use in a U.S. volunteer sample of 3,049 female and 1,070 male twins aged 50 to 96. Significant gender and age effects we re found for self-report measures of current and lifetime alcohol use, with greater intake among males and current and lifetime abstinence m ore common among older participants. Comparisons with data obtained 4 years previously revealed high stability for quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption. Twin pairs with more frequent social contact ten ded to be more similar for lifetime and current alcohol use. Biometric al genetic modeling results indicate that use of alcohol is highly fam ilial, with both genetic and shared environmental factors contributing to initiation of alcohol use among men and women. Among drinkers, how ever, the degree of twin resemblance for consumption behaviors is low to moderate and appears to be regulated by shared genes rather than sh ared environments. These data are consistent with a multidimensional p rocess, suggesting that the determinants of whether one drinks in olde r age differ from those underlying how much or how often alcohol is co nsumed.