“Externalizing” refers to a spectrum of behaviors and disorders related to impulse control. It includes substance use disorders, behavioral outcomes like risky sex, and childhood outcomes like ADHD or behavior problems.
The Externalizing Consortium has the following goals:
(1) Identify genes involved in a shared underlying liability to externalizing, and genes that are unique to specific externalizing phenotypes
(2) Increase the accuracy of polygenic scores associated with externalizing, and with specific externalizing phenotypes
(3) Advance understanding of the underlying biology of externalizing disorders and traits, and the pathways by which externalizing genetics may lead to other biomedical diseases
(4) Trace the pathways by which genetic and environmental influences interact across development to contribute to externalizing behaviors and disorders