The monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) gene, family function and maltreatment as predictors of destructive behaviour during male adolescent alcohol consumption.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate possible interactions between a polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) gene promoter, family relations and maltreatment/sexual abuse on adolescent alcohol-related problem behaviour among male adolescents.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of a randomized sample of 66 male individuals from a total population of 16- and 19-year adolescents from a Swedish county. Boys, who volunteered to participate answering an alcohol-related problem/behaviour questionnaire, were investigated with regard to interactions between such problems, family function, maltreatment and MAO-A genotype.


METHODS
MAO-A genotype, family relations history, history of being maltreated or abused and alcohol-related problem behaviour.


RESULTS
Boys with the short (three-repeat) variant of the MAO-A gene, who had been maltreated/abused or came from families with poor relations, showed significantly higher scores of alcohol-related problems. We also found that maltreatment/abuse independently showed the strongest relation to alcohol-related problems among boys in our model.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that both maltreatment and MAO-A genotype may be useful for the understanding of male adolescent alcohol-related problem behaviour.
Nilsson
Kent W
KW
Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, Central Hospital Västerås, Västerås, Sweden. kent.nilsson@ltv.se
Sjöberg
Rickard L
RL
Wargelius
Hanna-Linn
HL
Leppert
Jerzy
J
Lindström
Leif
L
Oreland
Lars
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005195:Family Relations; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D011584:Psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D008995:Monoamine Oxidase