We previously reported analyses conducted within the Finnish population-based twin sample, FinnTwin16, to examine the genetic architecture across seven measures of alcohol consumption (frequency of drinking, frequency × quantity, frequency of heavy drinking, frequency of intoxication, and maximum drinks in a 24 hour period) and problems (the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index-RAPI and the Mälmö-modified Michigan Alcohol Screen Test - MmMAST) (Dick et al., 2011). Our results yielded a model suggesting four latent factors that account for the genetic variance across the measures of alcohol consumption and measures of problems. The first two latent genetic factors loaded onto all of the drinking measures (consumption and problems), the third latent genetic factor loaded exclusively onto maximum drinks in a 24 hr period and the MmMAST, and the fourth latent genetic factor loaded onto the two indices of problems (the MmMAST and the RAPI). Using comparable measures of alcohol consumption and problems, data from an independent twin sample, the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders, also indicated a parallel genetic architecture (Dick et al., 2011). This previously reported model from the Finntwin16 sample is depicted in Figure 1.
