Is addiction heritable? Separating fact from fiction
by Marc on January 18, 2016 in Connect
...There are really just THREE things to keep in mind:
A.Yes, heritability can be in the 50% range for many different addictions...The rest of that 100% is made up of environmental factors.
B.This 50% figure is actually very typical of personality traits in general, such as the famous “Big Five†traits, like sociability or extroversion.
C.And yet the 50% figure for a genetic influence on addiction does NOT come from any single trait. There is no such thing as an addiction trait or addictive personality.
...The strongest predictors are:
(1) an impulsive or antisocial personality style, and
(2) an anxious, overly-sensitive, perhaps OCD personality style.
Note that these personality clusters are almost perfect opposites: the brash, uncaring person vs. the anxious, neurotic person.
...According to Maia Szalavitz in her new book, there’s a third heritable package that strongly predicts addiction: a combination of reckless drive on the one hand and sensitivity to failure or loss on the other.
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