Main description:

This groundbreaking volume synthesizes the results of the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders, which yielded longitudinal data on more than 9,000 individuals. The authors trace how risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, antisocial behavior, alcoholism, and substance abuse emerges from the interplay of a variety of genetic and environmental influences. Major questions addressed include whether risk is disorder-specific, how to distinguish between correlational and causal genetic and environmental factors, sex differences in risk, and how risk and protective factors interact over time.

Contents:

Introduction

I. Background

1. The Scientific and Social Context of the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders

2. Methodology Used in the VATSPSUD

3. Twinning and Twin Models

II. Genetic Risk

4. Internalizing Disorders

5. Externalizing and Substance Use Disorders

6. Twin Model Assumptions

III. Environmental Risk

7. Childhood Experiences and Risk for Psychopathology

8. Adult Experiences and Risk for Psychopathology

IV. A Closer Look at Genetic and Environmental Influences

9. Sex Differences

10. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Stability and Change

11. The Genetics of What?: Comorbidity, General versus Specific Effects, and Risk Indicators

12. Three Extensions of the Twin Model

V. Bringing it All Together

13. The Genetics of the Environment

14. Mechanisms for Genetic Control of Exposure to the Environment

15. Is the Relation between Environmental Risk Factors and Psychiatric Disorders Causal?

16. Genetic Control of Sensitivity to the Environment

17. Integrative Models

18. Conclusions