Another potential limitation is that the majority of FHP women had only one alcoholic relative, i.e., the father. These individuals may actually be at relatively low risk for developing alcohol problems compared to individuals with greater family densities of alcoholism, limiting our ability to detect greater differences between FHN and FHP women, as has been shown previously in men (McCaul et al., 1991b). Several studies have shown that the risk for developing alcohol problems increases when there is a greater density of alcoholism among relatives (e.g., Dawson et al., 1992; Capone and Wood, 2008; Magnusson et al., 2010). Importantly, both a low response to alcohol (e.g., decreased body sway) and the number of alcoholic relatives contribute to predicting future alcohol-related problems (Schuckit et al., 2006). Clearly, more carefully controlled studies are needed to address the role of family density of alcoholism and response to alcohol in both men and women. In order to accomplish this accurately and with any reliability, more researchers need to focus on corroborating the family history of alcoholism reported by the participant, rather than simply relying on his/her self-report since the agreement with direct interview is only approximately 73% (Rice et al., 1995).
