Substance Abuse Among Women: Familial Factors and Comorbidity

There is a substantial body of literature on the role of familial factors in substance abuse; however, most current knowledge has been derived from studies that focus exclusively on alcoholism. In general, there is a relative paucity of literature on familial factors and other drug abuse. In addition, there is a dearth of evidence about the role of genetic factors in substance abuse among females because of the small numbers of women in most studies. This chapter (1) reviews epidemiologic evidence regarding sex differences in the prevalence of substance abuse, (2) examines whether these sex differences can be attributed to genetic factors, and (3) investigates the role of psychiatric comorbidity in sex differences in substance use disorders.