Antisocial behavior and alcoholism: A behavioral genetic perspective on comorbidity

Similar to many domains in the psychopathology: literature, overlap and cov ariation between antisocial behavior (ASB) and alcohol dependence (AD) are oft documented but little understood. Although the relation between ASB and AD is reliably found and of substantial magnitude, it is not possible give n the extant research to discriminate among alternative causal models that could give rise to this relation (e.g., ASB-->AD, AD-->ASB, reciprocal caus ation between ASB and AD, common causes of ASB and AD). In our opinion, tru e comorbidity among disorders can only be demonstrated and understood in th e context of considerable knowledge regarding the disorders' underlying cau ses (viz., pathology and etiology). In this article, we present a number of behavior genetic models that may be useful for illuminating the causes of comorbidity among two or more disorders, as well as for understanding the e tiology of each disorder individually. Using these behavior genetic approac hes, psychopathology researchers can directly test alternative models for t he comorbidity among disorders, as well as estimate the magnitude of differ ent etiological factors (i.e., genetic and environmental influences) on com orbidity. Although not a panacea and somewhat demanding technically, behavi or genetic approaches can shed new light on the comorbidity among disorders . (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.