Our group recently reported a phenomenon that might overlap with denial. That paper searched for characteristics of San Diego Prospective Study (SDPS) probands with AUDs whose young-adult offspring erroneously reported no significant alcohol problems in that parent (Schuckit et al., in press). The attributes of the person who denies their own overarching alcohol problem might be similar to characteristics related to lack of recognition of his alcohol-related difficulties by his offspring. Items associated with an offspring’s incorrect report of their father’s problems included the lack of endorsement of four specific AUD criterion items. These included probands denying spending a great deal of time to obtain, use, and/or recover from alcohol (criterion 5 in the DSM-IV criteria for dependence [D5]), not endorsing decreasing important activities due to alcohol (criterion D6), and not admitting to continuing to use alcohol despite physical and/or psychological problems (D7) or despite social and/or interpersonal problems (criterion 4 for abuse [A4]) (Schuckit et al, in press ).
