Aims: A low level of response (LR) to alcohol is a characteristic of sons of alcoholics and predicts an elevated future alcoholism risk. A 12-question Self-Rating of the Effects (SRE) of alcohol form has been shown to correlate cross-sectionally with a designation of a low LR determined by alcohol challenges.
Design: This study evaluates the potential usefulness of the SRE as a retrospective measure of both the response to alcohol and of subsequent alcoholism in two samples.
Setting: All subjects were studied in the United States, most in California.
Participants: First, 94 sons of alcoholics and controls completed the SRE 15 years after an alcohol challenge, and SRE values were compared to their prior LR results and their alcoholic outcomes. Secondly, the relationship between SRE results and alcoholic status was determined in 551 men and women alcoholics, their relatives, and controls.
Measurements: Subjects were evaluated with face-to-face interviews.
Findings: Despite the interval of 15 years, the correlation between the SRE and the subjective high feelings on the alcohol challenge was between -0.3 and -0.4. For those 94 subjects the full SRE correlated with a diagnosis of alcohol dependence at 0.5, a figure that remained at 0.3 even when only the estimates related to the earliest drinking experiences were considered. For the 551 men and women, the correlation between the SRE and alcohol dependence diagnoses was 0.6, including 0.3 for the estimates of the first five times of drinking. All major findings in both samples remained robust when the recent drinking history or the number of items endorsed was considered, or when the most severe alcohol problem, passing out, was deleted from the analysis.
Conclusions: When alcohol challenges are not possible, these retrospective reports indicate that the SRE is a potentially useful surrogate for determining a subgroup of people who might carry a low level of response to alcohol and a subsequent elevated risk for alcoholism.