Participants were accepted only if at least one, and usually two, adult first-degree relatives confirmed the family history of alcoholism and/or substance abuse (or lack of) in a telephone interview (see Evans et al., 2000 for details); this confirmation is crucial given that participants do not always have accurate information. In addition to the 55 women who started this study, another 11 women (17%) were specifically excluded because we could not corroborate the participants reported family history of alcohol or substance abuse when family members were interviewed. Females in the FHN group had no first-degree biological relatives (parents, siblings, children) with histories of alcohol or substance abuse. Females in the FHP group were required to have an alcoholic biological father and first-degree family histories of alcohol or substance abuse were allowed, with the exception of the mother to avoid the potential confound of in utero exposure associated with maternal alcoholism (Lipscomb and Nathan, 1980).
