Implications of Genetic Attributions for Addiction in Adults Affected by Alcohol Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder

The role of the genome in the etiology of addictive disorders is increasingly emphasized, though the impact of this emphasis on people affected by addiction remains unclear. Furthering existing research on this topic, we sought to explore how attributing one's own addiction to genetic causes would relate to clinically relevant attitudes and beliefs, and whether any such impact would differ between people with substance addictions (alcohol use disorder in our sample) and those with behavioral addictions (gambling disorder in our sample).

Individuals affected by gambling disorder (GD; N=60) or alcohol use disorder (AUD; n=53) completed a measure of their belief in a possible genetic basis for their addictive disorder, as well as measures of beliefs about the effectiveness of medication and psychotherapy, characterological self-blame, and beliefs about their ability to overcome their addictive disorder. A subset of 20 participants completed qualitative follow-up interviews to explore their perspectives in greater depth.

In the GD sample, but not in the AUD sample, genetic attributions were positively associated with characterological self-blame; no other quantitative variables showed significant associations with genetic attributions. In the interviews, several participants expressed views of a genetic explanation for addiction as suggesting a need for biomedical (pharmacological) treatment. There was a diversity of views about whether a genetic explanation would indicate blamelessness on the part of the individual patient, as well as whether it would connote limited agency to overcome addiction through behavioral self-control.

Individuals with addictive disorders may endorse a variety of different perspectives about the implications of genetic explanations of addiction for treatment, self-efficacy, and blame, which may help to explain why quantitative associations between genetic attributions and other variables were not consistently observed.