Family Transmission and Heritability of Externalizing Disorders

Abstract

Antisocial behavior and substance dependence disorders are most notablycharacterized by the exceedingly high financial and human costs they exacton society. Although institutions such as the criminal justice system andtreatment programs have been developed to cope with the consequences of thesedisorders, effective intervention will also require a better understandingof their etiology, particularly the nature of familial resemblance. Such anunderstanding requires answers to fundamental questions, such as "Is intergenerationaltransmission attributable to a general vulnerability to all disorders in thisspectrum or is familial transmission primarily due to disorder-specific vulnerabilities?"and "Are the origins of familial resemblance largely genetic or environmentalin nature?"