Genetics: No more addictive personality

Maia Szalavitz

Nature

522,

S48–S49

(25 June 2015)

doi:10.1038/522S48a

Published online: 24 June 2015

The role of temperament, metabolism and development make the inheritance of addiction a complex affair.

Subject terms:

Nordicphotos/Alamy

Genetics can influence addictive behaviour later in life, but linking genes to addiction is complicated.

One drunkard begets another, wrote the Greek philosopher Plutarch nearly 2,000 years ago, demonstrating the age-old wisdom of the observation that alcoholism runs in families.

But determining exactly what it is that addicted parents pass down to their children has proved difficult. Scientists have searched for decades for an 'addictive personality' that leaves someone vulnerable to drug problems, but without success. Researchers have tried to identify the genes responsible for addiction, and they have examined the role of early exposure to trauma. Yet they have failed to isolate a single genetic factor that reliably distinguishes between the 10–20% of people who try alcohol or illegal drugs and get hooked and the majority who do not.