During the 24‐hour free‐access schedule in the home cage (Figure 1A), similar alcohol consumption between control, SDPS‐prone, and SDPS‐resilient animals was observed (Figure 1B). By the end of the free‐access period, all three groups consumed approximately 1 g/kg of 12% alcohol (control, 0.82 ± 0.2; SDPS prone, 1.13 ± 0.2; and SDPS resilient, 0.86 ± 0.2 g/kg). Analysis of preference for the alcohol over the water solution during the entire free‐access period showed a significant effect of alcohol, repeated measures ANOVA, F EtOH(3.55, 113.62) = 25.94, P < 0.001, (Figure 1C), with no alcohol × group interaction, F EtOH × GROUP(7.10, 113.62) = 1.55, P = 0.155, and a trend for between‐group effects, F GROUP (2, 32) = 2.69, P = 0.083. One‐way ANOVA per alcohol concentration revealed that SDPS‐prone rats preferred the 2% alcohol solution, F 2% (2, 34) = 4.92, P = 0.014, when compared with both control (P = 0.005) and SDPS‐resilient (P = 0.030) groups. The SDPS‐prone group showed a modest preference for alcohol in all concentrations examined; however, no other statistical significant differences were observed.
