meet full criteria for a major depressive episode (see below for additional details). Controls were excluded if they met our criteria for depressive syndrome. Cases and controls differed significantly by age (t=7.87, p<0.001), with controls being older (47.5±.63) than cases (41.4±.48). This was intentional, to ensure that “unaffected” individuals were further through the period of maximal risk for onset of alcohol dependence. Cases were more frequently male (χ2=71.16, p<0.0001); this is likely due to the selection of cases via alcohol dependence, which is more prevalent in men than in women. However, had selection been based on depressive syndrome primarily and alcohol dependence secondarily, the sample would likely have had a disproportionate number of women. Cases completed significantly fewer years of school and had lower current household income (p<0.0001 in both cases). Cases had been admitted to an inpatient psychiatric ward/chemical dependency treatment facility more frequently than controls (cases: mean=4.4, range 0–60; controls: mean=0.02, range 0–3; p<0.0001).
