Participant screening was initially conducted by a phone interview assessing alcohol use/dependence, use/dependence of other drugs, medical history and mental health history. Participants that met all inclusion/exclusion criteria were to complete four sessions, scheduled on four separate days, that included clinical, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging assessments. During the first session, alcohol use history was assessed using the timeline follow-back methodology of the Lifetime Drinking History questionnaire (Skinner and Sheu, 1982, Sobell et al., 1988, Sobell and Sobell, 1990). This provided alcohol use variables for both lifetime and peak use phases. The density of a family history of alcohol problems was assessed using the family history drinking questionnaire (Mann et al., 1985, Stoltenberg et al., 1998). The family history density measure was the proportion of first-degree relatives who had alcohol problems. Psychiatric diagnoses were established using the computerized diagnostic interview schedule (cDIS) (Robins et al., 1998). These results were reported in a prior publication (Di Sclafani et al., 2007). Eighty-seven percent of LTAA were found to have at least one lifetime psychiatric diagnosis (including mood, anxiety, and externalizing disorders), compared to
