Parental history of alcohol abuse and the effects of alcohol and expectations of intoxication of social stress

• Published in: Journal of studies on alcohol Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 214 - 223
• Main Authors: SAYETTE, M. A, BRESLIN, F. C, WILSON, G. T, ROSENBLUM, G. D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway, NJ Rutgers University, Alcohol Research Documentation 01-03-1994; Journal of Studies on Alcohol, inc
• Subjects: Adult; Alcohol consumption; Alcoholic Intoxication - genetics; Alcoholic Intoxication - psychology; Alcoholic parents; Alcoholism - genetics; Alcoholism - psychology; Arousal - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Child of Impaired Parents - psychology; Factors; Family environment. Family history; Female; Humans; Influence; Male; Medical sciences; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Set (Psychology); Social Environment; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Social stress; Stress, Psychological - complications; Belief; Human; Induction; Alcoholism; Subjective experience; Experimental study; Stress; Social drinker; Family story; Mood; Anxiety; Expectation; Father
• ISSN: 0096-882X; 1934-2683
• DOI: 10.15288/jsa.1994.55.214

Male and female social drinkers, half of whom had a biological father who abused alcohol, were exposed to a social stressor (anticipation and delivery of a public speech) after consuming either a moderate dose of alcohol or tonic water. Half of each group were led to believe that they had consumed alcohol, the other half tonic water, yielding a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Intoxication, but not beliefs about having consumed alcohol, significantly reduced subjective anxiety and negative self-evaluation in response to the stressor in both men and women. Parental history of alcohol abuse differentially affected alcohol's influence on mood, but not measures of subjective intoxication, subjective physiological responses to alcohol, beliefs about alcohol's effects on behavior, or reactivity to the stressor.