Citation

Merikangas KR, Li JJ, Stipelman B, Yu K, Fucito L, Swendsen J, Zhang H. Addiction 2009; 104(4): 622-629.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02468.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Aims The aim of this paper is to examine the familial aggregation of cannabis use disorders and other psychiatric conditions among first‐degree relatives and spouses of probands with a cannabis use disorder.

Design Controlled family study methods.

Setting Out‐patient psychiatric clinics and the local community (same geographic area).

Participants Two hundred and sixty‐two probands with a life‐time history of cannabis use disorder, alcohol dependence, anxiety disorders or no history of any disorder, and their first‐degree relatives and spouses.

Measurements Cannabis use disorders and other DSM‐III‐R disorders in the relatives and spouses using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia.

Findings Results reveal an elevated risk of life‐time history of cannabis use disorders among siblings [odds ratio (OR: 3.6), adult offspring (OR): 6.9], and spouses (OR: 4.4) of probands with cannabis use disorders. There is a latent familial factor underlying cannabis use disorders that was shared partially with alcohol abuse/dependence. Comorbid mood and anxiety disorders aggregated independently from cannabis use disorders in families. Equal elevation in the magnitude of the association among the first‐degree adult relatives and spouses of probands with a cannabis use disorder suggests the probable contribution of both environmental and genetic factors.

Conclusions These findings support a family‐based approach to drug abuse intervention and the importance of future research concerning environmental mediators of familial transmission of drug abuse.