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Alcohol, Tobacco and Caffeine Use: Spouse Similarity Processes

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Abstract

Spouse similarity research has been largely descriptive yet is of theoretical and empirical importance to understanding individual differences in substance use. The present study considers phenotypic assortment versus social homogamy processes for alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine consumption traits using an extended twin-spouse design. Whereas both assortment processes were supported for quantity of alcohol consumed, phenotypic assortment was supported for quantity of tobacco and caffeine consumed, and social homogamy for tobacco use status. Moderate heritable influences were found for all traits though no shared environmental influences were found beyond those due to social background influences, i.e. those pertaining to social homogamy. Swedish government policies in effect at the time of marriage selection may explain the presence of social homogamy for quantity of alcohol versus quantity of tobacco and caffeine consumed. Social homogamy may be more important for some substance use traits such as alcohol consumption and tobacco use status but not others.

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Notes

  1. If one considered a model with only phenotypic assortment as the mechanism of assortment (Model 2.3), heritability is not increased but is lower at 22%, but rests inside the confidence interval of the full and final models. Meanwhile, the additional shared environmental effect accounts for 23% of the variance. Note that the spouse1–spouse2 correlations are as strong as the cotwin–spouse correlations (see Table IV) and similar in magnitude for both MZ and DZ kinships, suggesting a shared environmental mechanism. To the extent that heritable influences are important, the DZ cotwin–spouse and spouse1–spouse2 correlations would be less than those of MZ twin-kinships; yet, they are similar. While there are indications of heritable and shared environmental influences amongst the twin correlations, the non-sibling relationships point to the shared environment. Indeed, in the full model, confidence intervals suggest that heritable influences are not significant when both correlated and shared environmental parameters are estimated.

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Acknowledgments

The Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) is supported by NIA (AG04563, AG10175), The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Aging, and the Swedish Council for Social Research (97:0147:1B). The twin-family study “Genetic and Environmental Factors Affecting Smoking Behavior”, D.W. Crumpacker, PI, was originally supported by the Council for Tobacco Research, grant CTR 1066. The present analytical work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA11986).

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  1. University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Chandra A. Reynolds & Tracy Barlow

  2. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Nancy L. Pedersen

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  1. Chandra A. Reynolds
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Correspondence to Chandra A. Reynolds.

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Reynolds, C.A., Barlow, T. & Pedersen, N.L. Alcohol, Tobacco and Caffeine Use: Spouse Similarity Processes. Behav Genet 36, 201–215 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-005-9026-7

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