by many, but not all, studies directly examining the reaction to alcohol among children of alcoholics, who are at greatly elevated risk for developing alcoholism (Schuckit, 1984). Results have indicated that at moderate doses of alcohol, subjects who are family history positive for alcoholism and subjects who are family history negative for alcoholism attain equivalent blood alcohol concentrations, but most studies have found that subjects with a positive family history rate themselves as significantly less intoxicated than control subjects with a negative family history (Schuckit, 1984; O’Malley and Maisto, 1985; Savoie et al., 1988; Moss et al., 1989). Although not all studies agree (Newlin and Thomson, 1990), a meta-analyses focusing on subjective level of intoxication confirmed a diminished response to alcohol as a characteristic more frequently seen in subjects with a positive family history than in those with a negative family history (Pollock, 1992, Morean and Corbin, 2009). In addition, an 8-year follow-up of previously studied men with positive and negative family histories found that both a family history of alcoholism and a low response to alcohol were related to the development of alcohol-related problems (Schuckit and Smith, 1996).
