This study has several strengths, including the fact that young individuals with a low LR may be amenable to changing heavy drinking habits, a hypothesis that is the focus of a recent prevention study (Schuckit et al., 2012). However, all subjects were male, Caucasian or Hispanic, and were relatively educated and highly functional despite their AUDs. Thus, the generalization of the current results to women, individuals from lower socioeconomic strata, and those with early onset AUDs associated with impulsivity or additional psychiatric conditions was not determined. Furthermore, the current sample of alcoholics was relatively small. Additional caveats include the relatively long assessment interval of AUDs at each follow-up, the limited number of predictors used, and the strict requirement that probands were considered to have maintained an AUD diagnosis if they met one or more of the 11 criteria at any point during the ~5 years since their previous interview.
