The score is generated by counting up the number of drinks reported in each time period (FIRST FIVE, last 3 months, heaviest period) and dividing this score by the number of effects (any, dizzy, trouble thinking, falling asleep) endorsed. If a subject did not experience an effect during that time frame then that item is not counted. The analyses here focused on the number of drinks reported for the FIRST FIVE TIMES measure for the 4 effects. Selecting this measure increases the probability that participants refer more uniformly to a similar period in their lives and is most likely to result in a better estimate of “innate” tolerance rather than “acquired” tolerance. Additionally, it has been used previously in a linkage analysis utilizing the COGA dataset (see Schuckit et al., 2001a). Prior analyses have demonstrated that the relationship between SRE scores to alcohol challenge results remains statistically significant even after controlling for the number of effects of alcohol endorsed by the subjects (see Schuckit et al., 1997a,b).
