Goodwin and colleagues (1973, 1977a,b) reported an estimated risk ratio of 3.6 for adopted-away sons of alcoholics and 3.4 for nonadopted sons of alcoholics, compared with an assigned risk value of 1.0 for control adoptees.1 Likewise, only 2 percent of adopted-away daughters of alcoholics and 3 percent of nonadopted daughters were diagnosed as having histories of alcoholism, compared with 4 percent of control adoptees, giving risk ratios of only 0.5 and 0.75. Risk ratios using estimates of lifetime alcoholism prevalence in the general population are unchanged in men but become 2.0 and 3.0 for adopted and non-adopted daughters of alcoholics based on Goodwin’s estimated 1-percent prevalence for alcoholism in women. According to these findings, rates of alcoholism are significantly elevated in both the adopted and nonadopted sons of alcoholics, results which are consistent with a genetic influence on alcoholism risk in men. Results for women are not significant.
