Date of Award

6-19-2000

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Tom Petros

Abstract

A decreased sensitivity to the effects of alcohol has been consistently demonstrated in adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) and has been hypothesized as a predictor of future risk of alcoholism. The present study investigated whether family history of alcoholism would influence response to alcohol on a number of cognitive tasks. ACAs and controls were administered either a dose of alcohol in the form of 1.25 ml/kg body weight of absolute ethanol or placebo and subjected to the FAS test of word fluency, the Sternberg memory scanning task, a reaction time task, a test of prose memory, the WAIS-R Digit Span and Digit Symbol, a spatial learning task, and a measure of subjective response to alcohol. Previous studies have shown a decreased response to alcohol by male ACAs on self-report ratings of intoxication, cognitive tests, measures of static ataxia, and physiological measures. Results of the present study failed to support any differential response to alcohol on cognitive performance or subjective ratings of intoxication between ACAs and individuals without a positive family history of alcoholism. Overall, both ACA and non-ACA subjects who were administered placebo performed significantly better on category word fluency than those given alcohol, regardless of family history of alcoholism. Furthermore, current results supported previous research that found impairment in prose memory and slowed response time after ingestion of alcohol. Interestingly, ACAs had higher blood alcohol levels after ingestion of alcohol than non-ACAs, suggesting some type of absorption or metabolic difference. Several limitations of this area of research are discussed.

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