ArticleThe International journal of social psychiatry2017
Beneficial and detrimental effects of genetic explanations for addiction.
Article in The International journal of social psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Asymmetrical genetic attributions for the presence and absence of health problems.Psychology & health · 2024Trial
- Effects of bogus genetic feedback on subjective and physiological responses to acute stress.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Beyond Stigma-Integrating Neurobiology, Genetics, and Awareness Integration Theory in Addiction Recovery.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- Changing public perceptions of alcohol, alcohol harms and alcohol policies: A multi-methods study to develop novel framing approaches.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Self-serving beliefs about science: Science justifies my weaknesses (but not other people's).Public understanding of science (Bristol, England) · 2025Article
- Implications of Genetic Attributions for Addiction in Adults Affected by Alcohol Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder.Addiction research & theory · 2025Article
- Implications of genetic attributions for addiction among addiction professionals.Journal of psychiatric research · 2024Article
- Returning Genetic Information About Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder to Adolescents: Findings of a Preliminary Qualitative Study of Precision Prevention.AJPM focus · 2024Article
- Media framings of the role of genomics in "addiction" in the United States from 2015 to 2019: Individualized risk, biomedical expertise, and the limits of destigmatization.Public understanding of science (Bristol, England) · 2024Article
- Diabetes causal attributions: Pathways to stigma and health.Stigma and health · 2024Article
- Commentary: Perspectives on ADHD in children and adolescents as a social construct amidst rising prevalence of diagnosis and medication use.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Should we promote alcohol problems as a continuum? Implications for policy and practice.Drugs (Abingdon, England) · 2024Article
- Role of parental divorce and discord in the intergenerational transmission of alcohol use disorder.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Gambling Disorder and Stigma: Opportunities for Treatment and Prevention.Current addiction reports · 2022Review
- Reframing mental illness: The role of essentialism on perceived treatment efficacy and stigmatization.Memory & cognition · 2020Article
- Genetic feedback for psychiatric conditions: Where are we now and where are we going.American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics · 2020Review
- Asymmetrical genetic attributions for prosocial versus antisocial behaviour.Nature human behaviour · 2019Article
- Biomedical Explanations of Psychopathology and Their Implications for Attitudes and Beliefs About Mental Disorders.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2019Review
- The Implications of Genetic and Other Biological Explanations for Thinking about Mental Disorders.The Hastings Center report · 2019Review
- Behavioral Genetics and Attributions of Moral Responsibility.Behavior genetics · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAddictions are highly stigmatized and increasingly construed as biomedical diseases caused by genes, partly to reduce stigma by deflecting blame. However, genetic explanations may have negative effects, which have been understudied in the context of addiction. How the effects of genetic explanations might differ for substance addictions versus behavioral addictions is also unknown.
aimsThis study examined the impact of genetic explanations for addiction on measures of treatment expectancies, blame, and perceived agency and self-control, as well as whether these varied depending on whether the addiction was to a substance or a behavior.
methodsParticipants read about a person ('Charlie') with either alcohol use disorder or gambling disorder, receiving either a genetic or nongenetic explanation of Charlie's problem. They rated how much they blamed Charlie for his disorder, his likelihood of benefitting from medication or psychotherapy, and how much agency and self-control they ascribed to him.
resultsCompared to the nongenetic explanation, the genetic explanation reduced blame and increased confidence in the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy. However, it also decreased the expected effectiveness of psychotherapy and reduced ascriptions of agency and self-control.
conclusionGenetic explanations for addiction appear to be a 'double-edged sword', with beneficial effects that come at a cost.
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Registered trials
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