Risk for Alcoholism: A Comparison Between Two Different Groups of Sons of Alcoholics on Cardiovascular Reactivity and Sensitivity to Alcohol
- 1 December 1988
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research
- Vol. 12 (6), 742-747
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.1988.tb01338.x
Abstract
Two groups of sons of alcoholic fathers of differing family pedigrees for alcoholism [multigenerational (MGH) versus unigenerational (UGH)] were compared on measures of cardiovascular reactivity to unavoidable shock under alcohol and no alcohol consumption conditions. The MGH subjects were significantly more reactive than UGH subjects to the shock procedure on a measure of peripheral vasoconstriction (digital blood volume amplitude) with a similar trend on heart rate. The MGH subjects were significantly more sensitive to the reactivity dampening effects of alcohol than the UGH subjects on both cardiovascular measures. MGH subjects were also significantly more alexithymic than UGH subjects. The results are discussed in terms of the potential etiological significance of these characteristics in MGH males, and the importance of delineating the family history for at least two generations when assigning risks status to potential subjects.This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Greater reinforcement from alcohol for those at risk: Parental risk, personality risk, and sex.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1987
- Alexithymia in Males at High Genetic Risk for AlcoholismPsychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1987
- Greater reinforcement from alcohol for those at risk: Parental risk, personality risk, and sex.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1987
- The Stress-Alexithymia Hypothesis: Theoretical and Empirical ConsiderationsPsychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1985
- Parental expressed emotion and psychophysiological reactivity in an adolescent sample at risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorders.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1984
- Event-Related Brain Potentials in Boys at Risk for AlcoholismScience, 1984
- Risk for alcoholism and individual differences in the stress-response-dampening effect of alcohol.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1982
- Validation of the sensation scale, a measure of subjective physiological responses to alcoholBehaviour Research and Therapy, 1980
- Alexithymia: Concept and MeasurementPsychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 1979