Subjective High Assessment Scale (SHAS) (Schuckit, 1980) consists of 13 descriptors of alcohol’s effects, including uncomfortable, high, clumsy, muddled or confused, slurred speech, dizzy, nauseated, drunk or intoxicated, sleepy, distorted sense of time, effects of alcohol or drug, difficulty concentrating, and feelings of floating. Subjects were instructed to respond to how they felt “right now” using a horizontal line anchored by “not at all” on the left and “extremely” on the right. Based on previous studies that have used this scale to study genetic influences on subjective responses to alcohol (Hu et al., 2005; Ray and Hutchison, 2004; Schuckit et al., 1999), we analyzed GABRA2 genotype and haplotype effects on “High” and “Drunk or Intoxicated” effects.
