An adoption study of drug abuse/dependency in females

In a sample of 102 women who had been adopted at birth, drug abuse/dependency was found by log-linear analyses to have a major pathway of genetic etiology that started with a biologic parent with antisocial personality and led to an adoptee with conduct disorder and then through aggressivity to drug abuse/dependency, as well as from conduct disorder directly to drug abuse. This result was similar to findings from a male sample collected from the same agencies and at the same time, wherein antisocial biologic parents produced aggressive and conduct-disordered off-spring, who in turn became drug abusers/dependents as adults. Results are compatible with family studies demonstrating that female drug abusers stem from deviant families and themselves demonstrate socially deviant behavior early in life. The present study shows that one element of familial factors is genetic, and that, in addition, the family environment directly affects behavior (aggressivity) that leads to drug abuse/dependency.