The importance of family history of affective disorder in a group of young men.
This study used a structured questionnaire to identify a family history of affective disorder (AD) with associated impairment in life functioning in 8.5 per cent of a group of young men. Those individuals with and without family histories of AD were demographically similar, but the former demonstrated higher rates of having received counseling (28 per cent vs. 7 per cent). A family history of AD was not associated with an increased alcohol or drug problem pattern, but alcoholism was significantly more likely in the fathers and maternal grandfathers of those men with AD family histories. Preliminary evidence suggests that assortative mating and misdiagnoses of AD in individuals demonstrating alcohol or drug problems may help explain the increased prevalence of alcoholism in these families.
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D010290:Parents; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires