Biological Explanations of smoking

Biological explanations of smoking. 

In the initiation of smoking, the role of genetics is thought to play a part in becoming addicted to smoking. Family and twin studies estimate the heritability of tobacco smoking to be between 39% and 80%

A study by Vink studied 1572 dutch twin pairs, and found that individual differences, in both males and females, in initiation to smoking could be explained by genetics, Suggesting that genes does play a role in the initiation, for both boys and girls. 

A similar study by boardman, studied 348 identical twins, and estimated the hertiablity of smoking to be around 42%. This supports the idea that smoking behaviour is passed on through genes. 

A significant study, identified a specific gene variant on chromosome 15 that influenced the number smoked per day. they concluded that gene factors may not determine smoking initation but make it more likely that some smokers will become dependent if they…