GABRA2 and general externalizing behavior has also been extended to a non-clinical, community-based sample, in which individuals carrying the genotype originally associated with adult alcohol dependence in COGA were more likely to evidence an elevated, stable trajectory of externalizing behavior (as measured by the Achenbach Externalizing scale) across adolescence and into young adulthood as compared with individuals carrying the low-risk genotype (Dick et al., 2009). In sum, this literature suggests that GABRA2 is involved with multiple outcomes and disorders, all of which reflect problems with impulse control. Because the literature also suggests that impulsivity is not a unitary construct, we explored whether there were particular facets of impulsivity that GABRA2 is associated with, in an effort to further delineate the risk pathways associated with GABRA2.
