Because of the importance of distinguishing the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol from those transmitted across generations as familial genetic effects, the first goal of this study was to compare the gray matter volumetric differences in whole brain of the HR and LR offspring using voxel based morphometric (VBM) analysis while controlling for various personal and prenatal exposures to alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. Additionally, an important goal was to determine whether prenatal effects could be found controlling for familial risk effects. To achieve this goal, a comparison of volumetric differences of prenatally exposed (alcohol only) and unexposed offspring was performed using VBM analysis while controlling for personal exposures (alcohol and cigarettes) and prenatal exposures (drugs and cigarettes). To verify and extend our analyses of relevant covariation, SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 20) analyses were run to control for inclusion of multiple siblings from the same family using a family identifier variable. These analyses were directed at regions of interest (ROIs) found to be significant in the whole brain VBM analyses.
