The findings from the current study are also largely consistent with theoretical arguments that low subjective response to alcohol constitutes a risk factor that contributes to problematic alcohol use and increased liability for alcohol dependence (low-level of response model; Schuckit, 1994; Schuckit and Smith, 1996). Supplementary analyses were conducted in order to test other theoretical models that evaluate subjective response to alcohol and its rewarding and aversive effects in relation to liability for alcohol dependence. There was no evidence of differential sensitivity to alcohol’s effects across ascending and descending BrAC limbs, as Newlin and Thomson’s (1990) differentiator model might assume, nor evidence for increased sensitivity to the stimulant and sedative effects at peak BrAC, as the modified differentiator model might indicate (King et al., 2011).
