Familial association refers to the expectation that the endophenotype will be more prevalent among relatives of affected probands, as compared to controls. To that end, there is substantial evidence that subjective responses to alcohol are influenced by family history of alcoholism (e.g., Conrod et al., 1997; Pollock, 1992; Schuckit & Gold, 1998) and a recent study has shown that the number of alcohol dependent relatives was significantly associated with subjective response to alcohol in the laboratory (Schuckit et al., 2005). However, as reviewed by Newlin and Thompson (1990), the broader literature on alcohol challenge studies with sons of alcohol dependent parents and controls is mixed with regard to several behavioral and biological markers.
