The purpose of the present set of analyses was to determine if particular regional brain changes are associated with familial risk factors and to determine if the same or different regions would be associated with prenatal exposures. The present report is the first whole brain analysis that provides a comprehensive approach for separating the brain gray matter differences associated with familial genetic risk and prenatal exposure pathways. Our results suggest that regions associated with a familial diathesis for alcohol dependence may differ from those altered by prenatal exposure. Because of the study design, we were able to separate the effects of familial risk and prenatal alcohol exposure on offspring brain gray matter volume.
