Legalization of recreational cannabis associated with transitions to use and weekly use

that parents with more alleles for alcohol problems were also more likely to divorce or experience relationship discord, which in turn was associated with greater alcohol use disorder symptoms in their adult children,” Salvatore said. “Genes can shape our environment: Parents’ genes contribute to the types of environment that they create for us. Thus, one of the ways that genetic inheritance works is through our home environment. And these family adversities can turn the dial on our risk of experiencing alcohol use disorder symptoms later on. In other words, it’s not ‘nature’ or ‘nurture,’ but rather nature [genes] contributing to nurture [family experiences].” The researchers found that in families of European descent, parental alleles associated with increased risk of alcohol problems also increased the likelihood that children in those families would experience parental relationship discord and divorce, which were in turn associated with riskier alcohol behaviors from drinking at earlier ages to greater lifetime maximum drinks to a greater likelihood of developing alcohol use disorder symptoms. Importantly, these effects were observed even when parents’ own alcohol use behaviors were statistically controlled for in the model. Salvatore said the findings can lead to new avenues for treatment beyond medication. “One implication of our study findings is that even if someone’s risk for alcohol problems is, in part, grounded in their genetic makeup, the intervention could be environmental and not necessarily pharmaceutical,” she said. (The study did not find this evidence in people with African ancestry, and Salvatore said further research is needed to determine why.) [Thomas, N. S., et al. (2022). Genetic nurture effects for alcohol use disorder. Mol Psychiatry. https://doi. org/10.1038/s41380-022-01816-z] ▪