Along with examining genetic factors, environmental influences, as well as potential interactions between genetic and environmental influences (i.e., gene-environment interactions; GXE), should also be explored. Though GXE involving personality have only just begun to be investigated, the two published studies to date suggest GXE involving alcohol relevant genetic factors (i.e., dopamine) and alcohol relevant environmental risk factors (i.e., negative childhood family environments, parental alcohol use) influence novelty seeking (Keltikangas-Järvinen, Raikkonen, Ekelund, & Peltonen, 2004; Lahti et al., 2005). Further, a specific genetic serotonin polymorphism has been shown to influence the link between life stress and drinking (Covalut et al., 2006; Kaufman et al., 2007; Nilsson et al., 2005). Taken together, these findings suggest that a logical next step in understanding how and why personality relates to AUDs will be to integrate personality, AUDs, and drinking motives into a developmental framework in which changes in these constructs are viewed in the context of each other as well as in the context of related genetic factors, life-stage specific environments, and the interplay between genetic and environmental influences.
