The authors suggest that the most promising route to effective strategies for the prevention of adolescent alcohol and other drug problems is through a risk-focused approach. This approach requires the identification of risk factors for drug abuse, identification of methods by which risk factors have been effectively addressed, and application of these methods to appropriate high-risk and general population samples in controlled studies. The authors review risk and protective factors for drug abuse, assess a number of approaches for drug abuse prevention potential with high-risk groups, and make recommendations for research and practice.

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Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for substance abuse prevention.

The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations

In this study, we describe a psychobiological model of the structure and development of personality that accounts for dimensions of both temperament and character. Previous research has confirmed four dimensions of temperament: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence, which are independently heritable, manifest early in life, and involve preconceptual biases in perceptual memory and habit formation. For the first time, we describe three dimensions of character that mature in adulthood and influence personal and social effectiveness by insight learning about self-concepts. Self-concepts vary according to the extent to which a person identifies the self as (1) an autonomous individual, (2) an integral part of humanity, and (3) an integral part of the universe as a whole. Each aspect of self-concept corresponds to one of three character dimensions called self-directedness, cooperativeness, and selftranscendence, respectively. We also describe the conceptual background and development of a self-report measure of these dimensions, the Temperament and Character Inventory. Data on 300 individuals from the general population support the reliability and structure of these seven personality dimensions. We discuss the implications for studies of information processing, inheritance, development, diagnosis, and treatment. (Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1993;50:975-990)

https://jamanetwork.com/HttpHandlers/ArticlePdfHandler.ashx?journal=PSYCH&articleId=496431&pdfFileName=archpsyc_50_12_008.pdf

A Psychobiological Model of Temperament and Character

Part I. From There to Here - Theoretical Background: 1. From visiousness to viciousness: theories of intergroup relations 2. Social dominance theory as a new synthesis Part II. Oppression and its Psycho-Ideological Elements: 3. The psychology of group dominance: social dominance orientation 4. Let's both agree that you're really stupid: the power of consensual ideology Part III. The Circle of Oppression - The Myriad Expressions of Institutional Discrimination: 5. You stay in your part of town and I'll stay in mine: discrimination in the housing and retail markets 6. They're just too lazy to work: discrimination in the labor market 7. They're just mentally and physically unfit: discrimination in education and health care 8. The more of 'them' in prison, the better: institutional terror, social control and the dynamics of the criminal justice system Part IV. Oppression as a Cooperative Game: 9. Social hierarchy and asymmetrical group behavior: social hierarchy and group difference in behavior 10. Sex and power: the intersecting political psychologies of patriarchy and empty-set hierarchy 11. Epilogue.

http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam032/98044356.pdf

Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression

• A systematic method for clinical description and classification of both normal and abnormal personality variants is proposed based on a general biosocial theory of personality. Three dimensions of personality are defined in terms of the basic stimulus-response characteristics of novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence. The possible underlying genetic and neuroanatomical bases of observed variation in these dimensions are reviewed and considered in relation to adaptive responses to environmental challenge. The functional interaction of these dimensions leads to integrated patterns of differential response to novelty, punishment, and reward. The possible tridimensional combinations of extreme (high or low) variants on these basic stimulusresponse characteristics correspond closely to traditional descriptions of personality disorders. This reconciles dimensional and categorical approaches to personality description. It also implies that the underlying structure of normal adaptive traits is the same as that of maladaptive personality traits, except for schizotypal and paranoid disorders.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/PSYCH/articlepdf/494070/archpsyc_44_6_014.pdf

A systematic method for clinical description and classification of personality variants: A proposal.

• The inheritance of alcoholism was studied in 862 Swedish men adopted by nonrelatives at an early age. Both the congenital and postnatal backgrounds of the adoptees modify their risk for alcohol abuse. We distinguish two forms of alcoholism that have distinct genetic and environmental causes and differ in their association with criminality, severity of alcohol abuse, and the frequency of expression in biological mothers. Postnatal milieu determines the frequency and severity of expression of the common type of susceptibility in both men and women. In contrast, the less common type is highly heritable in men but is seldom expressed in mothers of affected men.

Inheritance of alcohol abuse. Cross-fostering analysis of adopted men

The Nordic countries were screened for the occurrence of cases of autism with a same-sexed twin under age 25 years. Twenty-one pairs (11 monozygotic and 10 dizygotic) of twins and one set of identical triplets were found and extensively examined. The concordance for autism by pair was 91% in the monoygotic and 0% in the dizygotic pairs. The corresponding concordances for cognitive disorder were 91% and 30%, respectively. In most of the pairs discordant for autism, the autistic twin had more perinatal stress. The results lend support for the notion that autism sometimes has a hereditary component and that perinatal stress is involved in some cases.

A twin study of autism in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

431 children (233 boys, 198 girls) born in Stockholm, Sweden, had a detailed behavioral assessment at 11 years of age, including a detailed interview with their school teachers, and at age 27 years were reevaluated to identify alcoholism or alcohol abuse. Specific predictions from a neurobiological learning theory about the role of heritable personality traits in susceptibility to alcohol abuse were tested in this prospective longitudinal study. Three dimensions of childhood personality variation were identified and rated without knowledge of adult outcome. These three dimensions (novelty-seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence) were largely uncorrelated with one another, and each was predictive of later alcohol abuse. Absolute deviations from the mean of each of the three personality dimensions were associated with an exponential increase in the risk of later alcohol abuse. High novelty-seeking and low harm avoidance were most strongly predictive of early-onset alcohol abuse. These two childhood variables alone distinguished boys who had nearly 20-fold differences in their risk of alcohol abuse: the risk of alcohol abuse varied from 4 to 75% depending on childhood personality.

Childhood personality predicts alcohol abuse in young adults.

The inheritance of alcohol abuse was studied in 913 Swedish women adopted by nonrelatives at an early age. There was a threefold excess of alcohol abusers among the adopted daughters of alcoholic biological mothers compared with other daughters. In addition, there was an excess of alcohol abuse among the daughters of biological fathers with alcohol abuse that was mild and not associated with criminality. However, fathers with extensive treatment for both alcoholism and criminality had no excess of alcoholic daughters. This confirms the heterogeneity among alcoholics noted in earlier work with adopted sons, which found that the latter type of criminal alcoholics also had no excess of alcoholic mothers. Imitation of alcohol abuse by adoptive parents did not increase later alcohol abuse by adopted women. The importance of nonfamilial environments and maternal effects is demonstrated for alcohol abuse in women.

Maternal inheritance of alcohol abuse. Cross-fostering analysis of adopted women.

• The state criminal records and official registers of alcoholics were used in a study of 2,000 adoptees and their biological and adoptive parents. The frequency of registration for the adoptees were approximately the same as for the population in general, but for the biological parents it was two to three times greater. Very few adoptive parents appeared in the records. It is conceivable that to a large extent adoption neutralized the "social heritage" from the biological parents. There was, however, a significant correlation in the records between alcoholism in biological parents and in their adopted-out sons. On the other hand, the criminal records showed no such correlation between biological parents and their children. These results support the hypothesis that there is a genetic explanation for the development of alcoholism, but not for the manifestation of criminality.

Michael Bohman

Papers

Inheritance of alcohol abuse. Cross-fostering analysis of adopted men

A twin study of autism in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Childhood personality predicts alcohol abuse in young adults.

Maternal inheritance of alcohol abuse. Cross-fostering analysis of adopted women.

Some genetic aspects of alcoholism and criminality. A population of adoptees.