AUTONOMIC REACTIVITY AND ALCOHOL-INDUCED DAMPENING IN MEN AT RISK FORALCOHOLISM AND MEN AT RISK FOR HYPERTENSION

Both sons of male alcoholics with multigenerational family history of male alcoholism (MFH) and sons of essential hypertensives (HTs) exhibi t elevated psychophysiological reactivity to stress when compared with male controls (FH-). MFHs also demonstrate a significant baseline hea rt rate increase and stress-response dampening following alcohol consu mption. The present study investigates the specificity of this alcohol -induced psychophysiological response pattern by testing these two ris k groups in a shock response paradigm, both sober and alcohol-intoxica ted. A repeated measures analysis of variance on sober and alcohol-int oxicated heart rate reactivity yielded a significant risk by alcohol i nteraction, indicating that alcohol consumption led to a greater decre ase in reactivity in the MFH group compared with the HT and FH- groups . Similar results were obtained for muscle tension measures, MFHs also displayed greater increases in resting baseline heart rate and muscle tension when alcohol intoxicated. The results may reflect a sensitivi ty to negatively and positively reinforcing effects of alcohol specifi c to individuals with multigenerational familiar histories of alcoholi sm.