Parental histories of problems with alcohol, drugs, antisocial behavior and depression were ascertained using the AUDADIS-IV. In assessing family history, interviewers read definitions to respondents that included examples of observable manifestations of the diagnostic criteria, since these are the mostly likely to be known to family members, increasing sensitivity (Andreasen et al., 1977; Zimmerman et al., 2004; Heiman et al., 2008). Interviewers then asked whether respondents’ biological mother and father experienced the condition as defined. AUDADIS-IV family history variables have very good to excellent test–retest reliability (Grant et al., 1995, 2003; Hasin et al., 1997a). From this information, four separate variables were created representing parental histories of alcohol, drug, depression, and antisocial behavior problems. For example, participants were coded as positive for parental alcohol problems if either their mother or father had such problems.
