Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
Volume 80, Issue 1, Pages 11-18Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.01.009
Keywords
Alcohol challenge; Alcohol dependence; Family history; Gender differences; Heart rate; Mental stressor; Stress-response-dampening; At risk siblings; At risk children
Funding
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung [BMBF]) [01EB 9403/0]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: In the following study we tested the stress response dampening (SRD) model which postulates that stress responses are more likely to be attenuated by alcohol in individuals at risk for alcohol dependence than in persons without that risk. In a laboratory experiment we examined a) if SRD effects exist for both sons and healthy daughters of alcohol dependent fathers, and b) if SRD effects exist for siblings of alcohol dependent males. Methods: We recruited 104 subjects at risk and 51 matched control subjects. In a laboratory experiment, study subjects received alcohol in one of two laboratory sessions and a stress paradigm served to elicit heart rate stress responses. Results: Heart rate stress responses were attenuated by alcohol in female family history positive (FHP) and female family history negative (FHN) subjects, however not in males. A multiple regression analysis revealed Heart Rate Stress Response in the Non-Alcohol Condition and Blood Alcohol Level as significant predictors of SRD. Conclusions: According to our findings, females carry a distinct risk for developing alcohol dependence, regardless of their family history and regardless of their degree of familial relationship. This is an important issue for devising models concerning the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in females. The study extends the current research literature, which mainly focuses on male subjects at risk, by including female subjects at risk, as well as siblings at risk of both genders. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available