Both substance dependence and behavioral control disorders, such as conduct disorder and adult antisocial personality disorder, have been shown to have a significant genetic component to their etiology (Button et al., 2005, 2006; Cloninger et al., 1981; Grove et al., 1990; Heath et al., 1997; Kendler et al, 1992, 2003; Prescott and Kendler, 1999; Slutske, 2001). Behavioral genetics studies have the advantage in being one of the strongest methods for determining whether the comorbidity among psychopathological conditions is due to common etiologies and or pathologies associated with the disorders or not. Complex disorders like substance dependence and behavioral under-control may be influenced by a number of genes that may be specific to the etiology of those disorders, or could overlap with other neurobehavioral disorders.
