Assessment of family history of alcoholism in sons of alcoholic fathers.

Results of studies of sons of alcoholics (SOAs) may vary depending on the density of the family history of alcoholism of the SOA subjects selected. To assess how reliably SOA subjects report a history of alcoholism in first- and second-degree relatives, we compared family histories obtained from 20 SOAs with those provided by their fathers. In all 20 cases, SOAs and their fathers agreed that the father met criteria for alcohol dependence but for no other primary Axis I psychiatric disorder. However, agreement was not as good for whether other paternal relatives in addition to the father were affected (kappa = 0.36) or for whether the family history was unigenerational or multigenerational for alcoholism (kappa = 0.44). Whether this discrepancy was due to under-reporting by the son or over-reporting by the father is unclear. These results suggest that 18-25 year old SOAs are reliable sources regarding alcohol dependence in their fathers, but that for determination of density of the family history of alcoholism, other relatives should also be interviewed directly.