Families meeting the basic inclusion criteria were provisionally assigned to one of two groups (nonalcoholic and father alcoholic) on the basis of parental phone screens, with final group status assigned on the basis of both the phone screen and questionnaires administered after the family began the study. Mothers in the nonalcoholic group scored below 3 on an alcohol screening measure (TWEAK; Chan, Welte, & Russell, 1993), were not heavy drinkers (average daily ethanol consumption<1.00 oz), did not acknowledge binge drinking, and did not meet DSM-IV criteria for abuse or dependence. Fathers in the nonalcoholic group did not meet RDC criteria for alcoholism according to maternal report, did not acknowledge having a problem with alcohol, had never been in treatment, and had alcohol related problems (e.g., work, family, legal) in fewer than two areas in the past year and three areas in their lifetime (according to responses on a screening interview based on the University of Michigan Composite Diagnostic Index, UM-CIDI; Anthony, Warner, & Kessler, 1994). A family could be classified in the father alcoholic group if the mothers met nonalcoholic
