One of the characteristics influencing a person's risk for alcoholism is his or her sex, and various factors may contribute to sex differences in risk. Adoption studies have provided some evidence of possible sex differences in the heritability of alcoholism, but overall the findings have been inconclusive. Twin studies have consistently supported the role of genetic risk factors in the heritab...

G studies are a crucial component of alcohol research. These studies attempt to quan­ tify genetic influences on problem drinking; characterize patterns of inheritance; and, ultimately, identify the gene or genes that confer susceptibili­ ty to alcoholism. Results of such research have important implications for the pre­ vention, early detection, and treatment of alcoholism. There is reason to ...

Although women generally have been subjects of alcohol research less often than men, gender can be used as a defining characteristic in subtyping schemes. Whether the sexes actually differ in aspects of their alcoholism, such as in etiology and degree of severity, however, is not known. Analyzing a sample of male and female alcoholics using several different statistical methods, the researchers...

In a series of 227 consecutive, non-referred patients with microbial keratitis an analysis of the accumulated hospital records showed that one-third were associated with chronic alcoholism. The diagnosis of alcoholism was usually unsuspected on admission to hospital. The microbial pathogenesis in these patients was distinctive; coagulase-negative staphylococci, alpha- and beta-streptococci, mor...

Not only are alcoholism and externalizing disorders frequently comorbid, they often co-occur in families across generations; for example, paternal alcoholism predicts offspring conduct disorder just as it does offspring alcoholism. To clarify this relationship, the current study examined the 'common genes' hypothesis utilizing a children-of-twins research design. Participants were male monozygo...

OBJECTIVE To discuss the mechanism of action, the efficacy and the safety of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the treatment of alcoholism. METHOD The published works on effective treatments for alcoholism is briefly reviewed and a prospective multidisciplinary follow-up of recovery from alcoholism in two community cohorts of adolescent males followed from 1940 until the present day is reviewed. ...

The current study tested parent alcoholism effects on growth curves of adolescent substance use and examined whether parent and peer influences, temperamental emotionality and sociability, and stress and negative affect could explain parent alcoholism effects. Longitudinal latent growth curve modeling showed that adolescents with alcoholic fathers, boys, and adolescents with drug-using peers ha...

This review considers several neurochemical characteristics or trait markers that may be related to a genetic vulnerability to alcoholism. These potential neurochemical markers of alcoholism vulnerability include indices of activity of five neurotransmitter systems, namely gamma-aminobutyric acid, serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline and beta-endorphin. This review evaluates whether potential abn...

A total of 70 age- and gender-matched children and their relatives who were from families that were either at high or low risk for developing alcoholism were studied and the children evaluated using event-related potential paradigms from both the auditory and visual modalities. The high-risk children were ascertained through families at exceptionally high risk for female alcoholism (half of all...

Animal models are important tools in the study of psychiatric disorders, including alcoholism, because they allow the use of research methods that cannot be used for ethical reasons in humans. Consequently, scientists have developed numerous approaches to evaluate the validity and reliability of animal models for studying human behavior and human disorders. Researchers have developed animal mod...