P300 AMPLITUDE DECREMENTS IN CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES OF ALCOHOLIC FEMALE PROBANDS

A total of 70 age- and gender-matched children and their relatives who were from families that were either at high or low risk for developin g alcoholism were studied and the children evaluated using event-relat ed potential paradigms from both the auditory and visual modalities. T he high-risk children were ascertained through families at exceptional ly high risk for female alcoholism (half of all female first- and seco nd-degree relatives were alcoholic), while low-risk control families h ad been selected for absence of alcoholism in first- and second-degree relatives. Results indicate that reduced amplitude of P300 and greate r negativity of N250 characterize children from high-risk families whe n evaluated with an auditory task. The visual task discriminated high- and low-risk groups for male children only, consistent with earlier f indings for high-risk families ascertained through a male alcoholic. F urther daughters of alcoholic mothers (biological father nonalcoholic) display significantly lower P300 than matched controls, indicating th at transmission of alcoholism risk may be possible from mother to daug hter without the necessity of paternal alcoholism.