PARENTAL HISTORY OF ALCOHOL-ABUSE AND THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL AND EXPECTATIONS OF INTOXICATION ON SOCIAL STRESS

Male and female social drinkers, half of wham had a biological father who abused alcohol, were exposed to a social stressor (anticipation an d 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 havin g consumed alcohol, significantly reduced subjective anxiety and negat ive self-evaluation in response to the stressor in both men and women. Parental history of alcohol abuse differentially affected alcohol's i nfluence on mood, but not measures of subjective intoxication, subject ive physiological responses to alcohol, beliefs about alcohol's effect s on behavior, or reactivity to the stressor.