There were 2 major findings in this study: 1) sensation seeking in middle-aged LTAA was not different from sensation seeking in NAC, and 2) TxN had greater sensation seeking than both NAC and LTAA. With regard to the first finding, there are two possible interpretations. The most conservative interpretation of this finding is that LTAA had normal sensation-seeking before the initiation of abstinence. The alternative interpretation is that there was a significant normalization of sensation seeking (supportive of long-term abstinence). Our investigations and those of others have shown that alcoholics who undergo treatment, like the great majority of these LTAA, have a more severe disorder than those who do not seek treatment (Fein and Landman 2005; Moss, Chen et al. 2007; Di Sclafani, Finn et al. 2008). Indeed, in the samples studied here, we have shown that LTAA compared to TxN have more severe alcohol use histories and a greater family history density of alcohol problems (Fein and Landman 2005), more impaired decision making (Fein, Klein et al. 2004; Fein, Landman et al. 2006; Fein, McGillivray et al. 2006), more
