Second, one obvious explanation for this association is that the exposure and outcome are both predicted by key confounding variables. We considered three: socioeconomic status, early criminal behavior or drug abuse, and a family history of alcohol use disorder. There is evidence in some studies that antisocial individuals are less likely to be or become married (19, 36, 37); however, other studies have found no association between some forms of antisocial behavior and marital status (38) and an increased likelihood of early marriage among those with antisocial personality disorder (39). When good measures of these three constructs were added to the statistical model, no attenuation was seen in the relationship between marital status and alcohol use disorder. These confounding variables could not explain any appreciable proportion of this association.
