In all, these findings indicate that parental history of alcohol problems and impulsive sensation seeking operate largely independently in adolescents to increase the likelihood of more frequent alcohol consumption, current binge alcohol use, and concomitant alcohol and tobacco use. These findings suggest that psychosocial and other neurocognitive traits besides impulsivity and sensation seeking conferred by a parental history of alcohol problems influence alcohol and tobacco use in adolescents. Furthermore, it is important to assess both impulsive sensation seeking levels and presence or absence of a parental history of alcohol problems in adolescents, especially those otherwise at risk for alcohol use. It is hoped that future investigations will identify the specific neurocognitive or psychosocial traits associated with a parental history of alcohol problems that serve as the mechanisms by which parental history confers risk for elevated alcohol use and use this information to advance prevention and treatment strategies for adolescent alcohol and tobacco use.
