Commentary on McCutcheon et al. (2017): Familial transmission of abstinent remission and social cognition

Abstract

Commentary on McCutcheon et al. (2017): Familial transmission of abstinent remission and social cognitionSuccessful abstinence may be determined by factors transmitted within families, including social modeling effects and genetic predisposition to personality traits that promote social interaction. The value of family studies is emphasized by the results of this investigation.The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) was designed to select multiplex families with an especially high density of alcoholism [1]. The paper by McCutcheon et al. [2] is based on analyses of data from the COGA sample designed to answer an important question; namely, do heritable traits run in families that predict remission from alcohol use disorder (AUD)? Noting the lack of evidence that family history of AUD is useful in predicting outcome, the authors speculated that a separate set of traits related to remission in probands would be seen in relatives. The demonstration that concordance for abstinence status was significantly greater in pairs matched for familial relatedness than in pairs of individuals who were unrelated suggests that the capacity for achieving remission is heritable.Citing evidence that the most prominent correlates of both abstinent and non-abstinent remission is social connections (marriage, friendships and self-help groups), the authors speculate that heritable aspects of social cognition that promote development of social connections may be a critical factor in remission. This is clearly a plausible hypothesis based upon observations that adults with alcohol use disorders frequently exhibit deficits in social cognition [3][4][5]. The authors speculate that mimicry of others' social behavior, known as social contagion, that occurs through spread of behavior by proximity in large social networks [6], may also occur within families. While the social contagion model appears to have merit, previous work on traits transmitted within families suggests that genetic determinants may also play a significant role. Some personality traits appear to have a genetic basis because of demonstrated similarity in related individuals (twins) reared apart and the negligible effects of common family environment [7]. Among the traits showing high heritability is the Alienation scale (h 2 = 0.45) from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). There is evidence that those with a family history of AUD exhibit higher levels of the MPQ trait of Alienation [8,9], a trait which, if prominent in an individual, would tend to deter social interaction. Those with higher scores believe they are victimized by others, endorsing items such as: 'Most people stay friendly only as long as it is to their advantage'. Conversely, those with lower scores tend to have beliefs concordant with pro-social behaviors that promote social interaction.Offspring at high risk for developing AUD and related substances use disorders because of multiplex familial alcohol dependence also show a reduced capacity for judging the mental state...