In a laboratory study of psychomotor sensitivity to alcohol, twins were asked "Would you drive a car now ? at 1, 2, and 3 hours after drinking a standard dose of ethanol" (0.75 g/kg). Correlation among these binary items, the Eysenek personality scales, and age were investigated using PRELIS and LISREL. Willingness to drive and Extraversion correlate at all three times in both males and females were recorded. In males, willingness to drive also correlates with Psychoticism, and in females it correlates negatively with the Lie (or Social Desirability) scale. Most correlations between co twins in willingness to drive were significant in both monpzygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) male twins but correlations were lower in female twins. Factor and Markovian models were fitted. In males there seem to be both genetic and cultural influences on willingness to drive when drunk. About half the genetic variance seems to be the pleiotropic effects of genes influencing Extraversion. The correlations with Psychoticism, on the other hand, seem to be largely environmental in origin. The small sample size and lack of proper significance tests mean than these results must be interpreted with caution. (A)
Abstract