This paper draws upon the paradigm developed by Shanahan and Hofer (2005), whose social control model anticipates that the genetic variance for particular behaviors will be reduced within social settings characterized by high levels of social control. In their words, “in circumstances marked by high levels of social control, a large percentage of the sample –irrespective of their genetic diversity- exhibits the same phenotype; in settings marked by low social control, people’s choices and behaviors are more apt to reflect their genotype.” Social control can be characterized by both institutional control and social network control. Institutional control involves the introduction of policies to reduced substance use by illegalizing substances, and introducing fines for use. For legal substances, controls include limits on the locations in which smoking or drinking is permitted, limits on the sale of these products, or taxes placed on tobacco or alcohol purchases. These policies influence mean levels of use (Kandel et al., 2004) but they may also be particularly effective in reducing both the variance as well as genetic tendencies to use and develop dependence on substances.
