Alcoholism

Paper Summary:

Type I alcoholism affects both men and women, requires the presence of a genetic as well as an environmental predisposition, commences later in life after years of heavy drinking and can take on either a mild or severe form. This paper shows that, in contrast, type II alcoholism affects mainly sons of male alcoholics, is influenced only weakly by environmental factors, often begins during adolescence or early adulthood, is characterized by moderate severity and usually is associated with criminal behavior. The paper presents an overview of these type alcoholism types and discusses different studies performed on the subject.

From the Paper:

"The personality traits of harm avoidance, novelty seeking, and reward dependence likely are inherited independently of each other and are influenced by three brain systems that differ in the neurotransmitters they use. For example, the brain system for novelty seeking is predominantly influenced by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Accordingly, people who have a high novelty-seeking trait are expected to react strongly to the stimulation of dopamine nerve cells. Researchers recently confirmed this hypothesis after finding the predicted correlations between novelty seeking, plasma prolactin levels, and heritable variants of cellular components mediating dopamine's effects. Likewise, the serotonin-using (i.e., serotonergic) nerve cells have complex effects on behavior, including facilitating harm avoidance and social cooperation."

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