Genetic determinants of risk behavior in relation to alcohol use and alcohol use disorder: a developmental perspective.

Widespread alcohol, drug and nicotine use, in adults but increasingly in much
younger individuals, present major health problems in the Netherlands as well
as in other countries. Results from the proposed project, which makes use of a
large, population based, resource will provide insight into the unfolding of
development of genetic and environmental factors that underlie the initiation
and progression of substance use and into the way these genetic and
environmental risk factors might be mediated in their expression via different
pathways. Importantly, we will identify early and later risk and protective
factors across several domains of psychopathology, personality and lifestyle
factors.

To clarify the longitudinal developmental and genetic relationships among three
domains of variables: 1) personality traits (e.g. sensation seeking),
externalizing and internalizing disorders, 2) alcohol and other drug onset, use
and disorder and 3) lifestyle and social environment.

Longitudinal twin family study

Participants receive an invitation to participate in the questionnaire survey
and are offered the option to complete the questionnaire via the internet. If
they prefer a paper version, the questionnaire booklet is mailed to the
participant. Participants are free to complete the questionnaire within their
own time in their own home and there are no consequences to non-participation.
Participants do not receive personal feedback on their data, but final results
of the survey are published on the NTR website and reported in the yearly
TWINFO magazine, that is send out to all individuals registered with the NTR.