HEART-RATE REACTIVITY AND ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION AMONG SONS OF MALE ALCOHOLICS AND SONS OF NON-ALCOHOLICS

Recent studies have demonstrated that sons of male alcoholics with mul tigenerational family histories of male alcoholism are characterized b y sober heart-rate hyperreactivity to aversive stimuli, susceptibility to alcohol-induced dampening of that hyperreactivity and by increased resting heart rate while intoxicated. Regression analyses indicate th at the magnitude of alcohol-induced change in resting and reactive car diac response is significantly and powerfully associated with the degr ee of self-reported voluntary alcohol consumption among 85 non-alcohol ic males who are either lacking or who have moderate or extensive fami ly histories of male alcoholism. It appears that heightened sensitivit y to alcohol-induced increase in resting and decrease in reactive hear t rate might mark or underlie familial risk for developing alcoholism.