The classical approach to measuring LR in humans has used an alcohol challenge where groups at higher and lower risk for later alcoholism (e.g., children of alcoholics and controls) are matched on recent drinking and drug use histories and on demography, after which the two groups’ alcohol-related changes in a variety of measures are compared at rising, peak, and falling blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) (Schuckit and Gold, 1988; Schuckit and Smith, 2000). Prominent among these measures is the Subjective High Assessment Scale, or SHAS, the most recent version of which asks subjects to report on changes in seven subjective feelings of intoxication every half hour after consuming the beverage using a 36-point scale (Eng et al., 2005; Schuckit and Gould, 1988). All four follow-up studies of subjects studied earlier in life with alcohol challenges have reported higher risks for heavy drinking and problems among subjects with lower LR’s (Heath et al., 1999; Rodriguez et al., 1993; Schuckit and Smith, 2000; Volavka et al., 1996), even after controlling for the usual drinking pattern prior to the alcohol challenge (Schuckit, 2002; Trim
