The relationship between parent and offspring comorbid disorders.

Data concerning alcohol and drug abuse and dependence, depression, and antisocial behaviors, among both subjects and their parents, were obtained from a community sample of 1,201 young adults. Although 35% of the sample exhibited alcohol abuse or dependence, 14% marijuana or cocaine abuse or dependence, and 22% reported a parent positive for alcoholism, evidence of comorbidity with depression or antisocial personality was generally rare among both parents and subjects. Over one third of the subjects were negative both for family history and any disorder of their own and 20% reported a problem in both themselves and in one or both parents. These findings lend only partial support for Winokur's depression spectrum disease hypothesis, in that diagnosed children of depressed-only families have a 30% chance of exhibiting substance abuse or dependence alone, whereas diagnosed children of alcoholic-only families have only a 7% chance of exhibiting depression alone.