{"id":79182,"date":"2025-05-06T12:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/79182\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T12:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:57:08","slug":"romantic-partners-can-shape-genetic-risk-for-binge-drinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/79182\/","title":{"rendered":"Romantic Partners Can Shape Genetic Risk for Binge Drinking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Summary: <\/strong>New research shows that romantic partners\u2019 habits and traits can influence how strongly genetic risk for binge drinking affects an individual. Using data from Finnish twins, scientists found that partners who smoke, show psychological distress, or exhibit low conscientiousness amplify genetic risk.<\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly, heavy partner alcohol use reduced the impact of genetic factors, suggesting environmental influences can override biological predispositions. These findings could help refine couples therapy and interventions targeting alcohol misuse by focusing not only on relationship dynamics but also partner behaviors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Partners Amplify Genetic Risk:<\/strong> Traits like smoking, distress, and low conscientiousness in partners can intensify genetic susceptibility to binge drinking.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Unexpected Finding:<\/strong> Heavy alcohol use by partners appeared to reduce the influence of genetic factors, shifting risk to environmental causes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Therapeutic Implications:<\/strong> Findings highlight the potential for couple-based alcohol interventions that address both relationship dynamics and partner habits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong>Virginia Commonwealth University<\/p>\n<p><strong>A study led by Virginia Commonwealth University and Rutgers University has revealed new insights into how romantic partners can influence a person\u2019s genetic predisposition to unhealthy alcohol use. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The research team specifically found that the substance use habits, personality traits and mental health status of long-term partners can enhance or diminish the impact of a person\u2019s genetic risk for binge drinking.<\/p>\n<p>  <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/genetics-AUD-relationships-neuroscience.jpg\" alt=\"This shows a couple drinking and DNA.\"  \/> In this new study, the researchers sought to better understand whether any particular characteristics exhibited by a romantic partner can impact a person\u2019s genetic risk for drinking. Credit: Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p>The findings could help reshape strategies for couples therapy and couple-based alcohol interventions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis research sheds new light on the complicated and unforeseen ways that spouses and long-term partners can shape our health and well-being,\u201d said\u00a0Mallory Stephenson, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the\u00a0Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics\u00a0within the VCU School of Medicine.<\/p>\n<p>Stephenson co-led the research with Jessica E. Salvatore, Ph.D., previously of VCU and now an associate professor of psychiatry at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The findings\u00a0were published May\u00a05\u00a0in\u00a0Clinical Psychological Science.<\/p>\n<p>A person\u2019s genes account for approximately\u00a050% of their risk\u00a0for alcohol use disorder and other forms of risky drinking, but the influence of these genetic factors can change depending on a person\u2019s environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor example, if a person has a high genetic risk for alcohol use disorder and experiences a traumatic event, such as the death of a close relative or exposure to a natural disaster, their biology could play more of a role in whether or not they develop an alcohol problem in response to that stressor,\u201d Stephenson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, if that person isn\u2019t experiencing anything stressful in their life, their genetic risk may not have as much influence on their drinking behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previous VCU-led research\u00a0revealed that people with a genetic predisposition to risky alcohol behavior are less likely to drink frequently, become intoxicated often or suffer from alcohol dependence symptoms if they are in a romantic relationship.<\/p>\n<p>In this new study, the researchers sought to better understand whether any particular characteristics exhibited by a romantic partner can impact a person\u2019s genetic risk for drinking.<\/p>\n<p>To answer this question, Stephenson and her colleagues examined anonymized data from FinnTwin16, a longitudinal study of twins identified from Finland\u2019s Central Population Registry. They specifically looked at Finnish twins in their 30s who were in long-term relationships and had a history of alcohol use.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers analyzed survey responses from 1,620 twins and their romantic partners, including responses on their drinking and smoking habits, personality characteristics and mental health status.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwin studies are a really useful tool to disentangle the genetic and environmental influences on our lives,\u201d Stephenson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy studying fraternal twins, which share 50% their genetic makeup, and identical twins, which share 100% of their genetic makeup, we can gain insights into how genetic and environmental factors interact with each other and play a role in developing certain behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the researchers\u2019 findings was consistent with previous studies: that a person in early midlife was more likely to consume alcohol and engage in binge drinking if their romantic partner also frequently drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p>(When specifically looking at identical twin pairs, the researchers found that romantic partners had a greater influence on the drinking behavior of male twins compared with female twins.)<\/p>\n<p>But through statistical modeling, the researchers also found evidence of more interplay. They saw that that genetic risk for binge drinking had a greater effect in people whose romantic partners smoked cigarettes more frequently, were less conscientious, were more extroverted or reported higher neuroticism or psychological distress.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, heritability of binge drinking had less of an effect on people whose partners reported more frequent alcohol use, a finding that was surprising to the research team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect to see this result; however, we think this could mean that the drinking behavior of romantic partners could have a larger effect on a person\u2019s environmental influences rather than their genetic influences,\u201d Stephenson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can think of these environmental and genetic influences like a pie chart. If the impact of one of these factors makes up a smaller piece of the pie, then the impact of another factor makes up a larger piece.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The research underscores the important but complex ways in which romantic partners affect a person\u2019s health. From a clinical perspective, the researchers say these findings could inform strategies for couples therapy and couple-based alcohol interventions, which are typically designed to focus on relationship dynamics rather than personal characteristics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if you have a good relationship with your partner, this research shows that their substance use, personality traits and mental health can still have an impact on you,\u201d Stephenson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The researchers say more work is needed to better understand the various ways romantic partners influence drinking outcomes. They are currently looking into how relationship characteristics and the role of parenthood may come together to shape a person\u2019s drinking habits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Funding: <\/strong>The new study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and by the Academy of Finland.<\/p>\n<p>About this genetics and AUD research news<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Author: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/neurosciencenews.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#493d3b28272026093f2a3c672c2d3c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Olivia Trani<\/a><br \/><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vcu.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Virginia Commonwealth University<\/a><br \/><strong>Contact: <\/strong>Olivia Trani \u2013 Virginia Commonwealth University<br \/><strong>Image: <\/strong>The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Original Research: <\/strong>Closed access.<br \/>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1177\/21677026251332931\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Associations of Romantic Partners\u2019 Characteristics With Alcohol Consumption and Binge Drinking: Examining Evidence for Gene\u2013Environment Interaction<\/a>\u201d by Mallory Stephenson et al. Clinical Psychological Science<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Associations of Romantic Partners\u2019 Characteristics With Alcohol Consumption and Binge Drinking: Examining Evidence for Gene\u2013Environment Interaction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We investigated associations of romantic partners\u2019 alcohol use, cigarette smoking, personality, and psychological distress with alcohol use and binge drinking in a sample of Finnish twins who have initiated alcohol use (N = 1,620; 51% female; age:\u00a0M\u00a0= 33.6 years) and their romantic partners.<\/p>\n<p>We also used twin modeling to examine whether partner characteristics moderate genetic influences on drinking behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Having a romantic partner with more frequent alcohol use and smoking was consistently associated with greater alcohol consumption and binge drinking, and partner alcohol use and smoking also moderated genetic influences on alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, a range of partner characteristics moderated genetic influences on binge drinking such that the heritability of binge drinking was higher when partners reported less frequent alcohol use, greater smoking, lower conscientiousness, and higher extraversion, neuroticism, and psychological distress.<\/p>\n<p>These findings highlight the important but complex ways in which romantic partners contribute to drinking behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: New research shows that romantic partners\u2019 habits and traits can influence how strongly genetic risk for binge&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[785,1032,38687,215,267,219,220,224,70,16,15,38375],"class_list":{"0":"post-79182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-alcohol","9":"tag-aud","10":"tag-binge-drinking","11":"tag-brain-research","12":"tag-genetics","13":"tag-neurobiology","14":"tag-neuroscience","15":"tag-relationships","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-virginia-commonwealth-university"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114461005806051006","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}