Commentary on Richmond-Rakerd etal. (2014): Genetic and environmental influences on the ages of drinking and gambling initiation: Evidence for distinct aetiologies and sex differences

摘要

Richmond-Rakerd et al.'s paper [1] makes a substantial contribution to the study of common genetic and environmental influences on the onset of drinking and gambling combined. In this clear and meticulous analysis, the age of first drinking (AFD) and the age of first gambling (AFG) were assessed in a large cohort of twins in two different set-points. It was reported that AFD and AFG are influenced by separate and unique environmental factors as well as genetic and environmental substrata of both phenotypes, which are dissimilar in men and women. These findings are in line with previous studies on the onset of substance use [2], which stated that environmental factors contribute to drinking onset. Sartor et al. [3] had reported previously that unique environmental factors account for approximately half the variance in AFD. In this sense, Richmond-Rakerd et al. [1] highlight the importance of genetic and environmental overlap between drinking and gambling onset, considering that both behaviours could be correlated with later risk of developing a pathological gambling and alcohol dependence.