Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Human Mate Selection and Addiction: a Conceptual Critique

  • Review
  • Published:
Behavior Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The authors review past work on modeling human mate selection, and suggest, using illustrations from existing literature on the impact of alcoholism on relationship formation and dissolution and reproduction, that the challenges of adequately characterizing human mate selection have not yet been overcome. Some paths forwards are suggested.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bulmer MG (1980) The mathematical theory of quantitative genetics Clarendon Press. Oxford, U.K.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey G (1986) A general multivariate approach to linear modeling in human genetics. Am J Hum Genet 39(6):775–786

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cloninger CR, Rice J, Reich T (1979) Multifactorial inheritance with cultural transmission and assortative mating. II. a general model of combined polygenic and cultural inheritance. Am J Hum Genet 31(2):176–198

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dinwiddie S, Heath AC, Dunne MP, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Slutske WS, Bierut LJ, Statham DB, Martin NG (2000) Early sexual abuse and lifetime psychopathology: a co-twin-control study. Psychol Med 30(1):41–52

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dunne MP, Martin NG, Bailey JM, Heath AC, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Statham DJ (1997) Participation bias in a sexuality survey: psychological and behavioural characteristics of responders and non-responders. Int J Epidemiol 26(4):844–854

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ (1969) The genetic analysis of continuous variation: a comparison of experimental designs applicable to human data. Br J Math Stat Psychol 22(2):131–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ (1970) The genetic analysis of continuous variation: a comparison of experimental designs applicable to human data. II. Estimation of heritability and comparison of environmental components. Br J Math Stat Psychol 23(2):189–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ (1977) Inferring the causes of human variation. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (General) 140(3):324–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ (1979) The use of twins in the analysis of assortative mating. Heredity (Edinb) 43(3):399–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ, Heath AC (1981) Detection of the effects of asymmetric assortative mating. Nature 289(5794):205–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ, Last KA, Young PA, Martin NG (1978) Model-fitting approaches to the analysis of human behaviour. Heredity (Edinb) 41(3):249–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ, Heath AC, Martin NG (1984) A note on the generalized effects of assortative mating. Behav Genet 14(4):371–376

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Efron B, Tibshirani R (1993) An Introduction to the bootstrap. Chapman and Hall, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RA (1918) The correlation between relatives on the supposition of Mendelian inheritance. Trans R Soc Edinb 52:399–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RA (1924) The elimination of mental defect. Eugen Rev 16(2):114–116

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grant BF, Dawson DA (1997) Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. J Subst Abuse 9:103–110

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grant JD, Heath AC, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Agrawal A, Statham DJ, Martin NG (2007) Spousal concordance for alcohol dependence: evidence for assortative mating or spousal interaction effects? Alcohol Clin Exp Res 31(5):717–728

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hall RL, Hesselbrock VM, Stabenau JR (1983) Familial distribution of alcohol use: II. Assortative mating of alcoholic probands. Behav Genet 13(4):373–382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC (1987) The analysis of marital interaction in cross-sectional twin data. Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma) 36(1):41–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC, Eaves LJ (1985) Resolving the effects of phenotype and social background on mate selection. Behav Genet 15(1):15–30

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC, Nelson EC (2002) Effects of the interaction between genotype and environment: research into the genetic epidemiology of alcohol dependence. Alcohol Res Health 26(3):193–201

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC, Kendler KS, Eaves LJ, Markell D (1985) The resolution of cultural and biological inheritance: informativeness of different relationships. Behav Genet 15(5):439–465

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Dinwiddie SH, Slutske WS, Bierut LJ, Statham DJ, Dunne MP, Whitfield JB, Martin NG (1997a) Genetic and environmental contributions to alcohol dependence risk in a national twin sample: consistency of findings in women and men. Psychol Med 27(6):1381–1396

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC, Slutske WS, Madden PAF (1997b) Gender differences in the genetic contribution to alcoholism risk and to alcohol consumption patterns. In: Wilsnack RW, Wilsnack SC (eds) Gender and alcohol. Rutgers University Press, NJ, pp 114–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath AC, Madden PAF, Martin NG (1998) Assessing the effects of cooperation bias and attrition in behavioral genetic research using data-weighting. Behav Genet 28(6):415–427

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob T, Waterman B, Heath A, True W, Bucholz KK, Haber R, Scherrer J, Fu Q (2003) Genetic and environmental effects on offspring alcoholism: new insights using an offspring-of-twins design. Arch Gen Psychiatry 60(12):1265–1272

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jinks JL, Fulker DW (1970) Comparison of the biometrical genetical, MAVA, and classical approaches to the analysis of human behavior. Psychol Bull 73(5):311–349

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler KS, Neale MC, Prescott CA, Kessler RC, Heath AC, Corey LA, Eaves LJ (1996) Childhood parental loss and alcoholism in women: a causal analysis using a twin-family design. Psychol Med 26(1):79–95

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler KS, Bulik CM, Silberg J, Hettema JM, Myers J, Prescott CA (2000) Childhood sexual abuse and adult psychiatric and substance use disorders in women: an epidemiological and cotwin control analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry 57(10):953–959

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knopik VS, Heath AC, Madden PAF, Bucholz KK, Slutske WS, Nelson EC, Statham D, Whitfield JB, Martin NG (2004) Genetic effects on alcohol dependence risk: re-evaluating the importance of psychiatric and other heritable risk factors. Psychol Med 34(8):1519–1530

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knopik VS, Heath AC, Jacob T, Slutske WS, Bucholz KK, Madden PA, Waldron M, Martin NG (2006) Maternal alcohol use disorder and offspring ADHD: disentangling genetic and environmental effects using a children-of-twins design. Psychol Med 36(10):1461–1471

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Madden PAF, Bucholz KK, Martin NG, Heath AC (2000) Smoking and the genetic contribution to alcohol-dependence risk. Alcohol Res Health 24(4):209–214

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin NG, Eaves LJ, Heath AC, Jardine R, Feingold LM, Eysenck HJ (1986) Transmission of social attitudes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 83(12):4364–4368

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson EC, Heath AC, Madden PAF, Cooper ML, Dinwiddie SH, Bucholz KK, Glowinski A, McLaughlin T, Dunne MP, Statham DJ, Martin NG (2002) Association between self-reported childhood sexual abuse and adverse psychosocial outcomes: results from a twin study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 59(2):139–145

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson EC, Heath AC, Lynskey MT, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Statham DJ, Martin NG (2006) Childhood sexual abuse and risks for licit and illicit drug-related outcomes: a twin study. Psychol Med 36(10):1473–1483

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rao DC, Morton NE, Cloninger CR (1979) Path analysis under generalized assortative mating I. Theory. Genet Res 33(2):175–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum PR (2002) Observational Studies, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum PR (2010) Design of Observational Studies. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum PR, Rubin DB (1983) The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika 70(1):41–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin DB (1984) William G. Cochran’s contributions to the design, analysis, and evaluation of observational studies. In: Rao PSRS, Sedransk J (eds) WG Cochran’s Impact on Statistics. Wiley, New York, pp 37–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin DB (2006) Matched sampling for causal effects. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Slutske WS, Heath AC, Madden PAF, Bucholz KK, Statham DJ, Martin NG (2002) Personality and the genetic risk for alcohol dependence. J Abnorm Psychol 111(1):124–133

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Slutske WS, Hunt-Carter EE, Nabors-Oberg RE, Sher KJ, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Anokhin A, Heath AC (2004) Do college students drink more than their non-college-attending peers? Evidence from a population-based longitudinal female twin study. J Abnorm Psychol 113(4):530–540

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron M, Heath AC, Bucholz KK, Madden PA, Martin NG (2008) Alcohol dependence and reproductive onset: findings in two Australian twin cohorts. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 32(11):1865–1874

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron M, Heath AC, Lynskey MT, Nelson EC, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Martin NG (2009a) Smoking and illicit drug use associations with early versus delayed reproduction: findings in a young adult cohort of Australian twins. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 70(5):786–796

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron M, Martin NG, Heath AC (2009b) Parental alcoholism and offspring behavior problems: findings in Australian children of twins. Twin Res Hum Genet 12(5):433–440

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron M, Heath AC, Lynskey MT, Bucholz KK, Madden PAF, Martin NG (2011) Alcoholic marriage: later start, sooner end. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 35(4):632–642

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron M, Madden PA, Nelson EC, Knopik VS, Glowinski AL, Grant JD, Lynskey MT, Jacob T, Sher KJ, Bucholz KK, Heath AC (2012) The interpretability of family history reports of alcoholism in general community samples: findings in a midwestern U.S. twin birth cohort. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 36(6):1091–1098

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron M, Bucholz KK, Lynskey MT, Madden PA, Heath AC (2013) Alcoholism and timing of separation in parents: findings in a midwestern birth cohort. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 74(2):337–348

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Supported by NIH Grants HD049024, AA07535, AA07728, AA011667, AA011822, AA011998, AA012640, AA017688, AA017915, DA023696, DA013643.

Conflict of Interest

Andrew C. Heath, Mary C. Waldron, Nicholas G. Martin, Elliot C. Nelson, Kathleen K. Bucholz, and Pamela A. F. Madden declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All publications cited in this review paper used research data obtained with informed consent of research participants, under protocols approved by the relevant institutional IRB or Ethics Committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry 8134, Washington University School of Medicine, Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, 4560 Clayton Avenue, Suite 1000, St Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Andrew C. Heath, Elliot C. Nelson, Kathleen K. Bucholz & Pamela A. F. Madden

  2. School of Education, Indiana University at Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Mary C. Waldron

  3. Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Nicholas G. Martin

Authors
  1. Andrew C. Heath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mary C. Waldron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nicholas G. Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Elliot C. Nelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kathleen K. Bucholz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Pamela A. F. Madden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew C. Heath.

Additional information

Editorial note

This paper was prepared for the Festschrift for Lindon J Eaves published in the May 2014 issue of this journal, but was inadvertently not included. We are happy to publish it now.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Heath, A.C., Waldron, M.C., Martin, N.G. et al. Human Mate Selection and Addiction: a Conceptual Critique. Behav Genet 44, 419–426 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-014-9669-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-014-9669-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation