How a spouse's mental health affects alcohol problems during marriage
Official title: A genetically informative approach to understanding the impact of spousal psychiatric disorders on alcohol use disorder onset, remission, and relapse
Funded at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences · NIH-11122205 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether a spouse's psychiatric problems or genetic risk change when married people develop, recover from, or relapse into alcohol use disorder.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Newark, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | August 1, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $353,250 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AA030996-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11122205 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
The focus is on married people where one or both partners have had alcohol use disorder or psychiatric conditions and who have contributed medical and genetic data to research cohorts.
✕Less likely to help
People who are single, do not have available genetic or health-record data, or whose drinking problems are unrelated to partner influences are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
Researchers will analyze existing health and genetic data from married couples to see how a spouse's psychiatric conditions and substance use relate to their partner's alcohol use disorder onset, remission, and relapse. They will compare couples where one partner has conditions like depression, ADHD, antisocial personality disorder, or other substance problems to understand timing and patterns of alcohol problems. The team will use genetic information to test whether a spouse's genetic risk can influence the other partner's drinking and whether a person's own genes make them more or less sensitive to these spouse effects. This project uses previously collected clinical and genomic datasets rather than recruiting new participants.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could help identify couples at higher risk and inform targeted prevention or couple-focused treatments to reduce AUD onset and relapse.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research has shown partner drinking relates to alcohol problems, but combining spousal psychiatric diagnoses with genetic 'social genetic' analyses in couples is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Newark, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Salvatore, Jessica E — Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Salvatore, Jessica E
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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How a spouse's mental health and substance use may affect a partner's drinking problems
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.