Familial alcoholism and premorbid cognitive deficit: a failure to replicate subtype differences

Recent evidence suggests that offspring of alcoholics are heterogeneous in many areas of functioning. This study focuses on extending our understanding of the vulnerability and resilience of young adults with a positive family history of alcoholism (FH+) within the domain of neurocognitive functioning. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that cognitive vulnerability is linked to genetic pedigree by systematically examining a broad range of cognitive abilities in several distinct family history subtypes represented by alcoholism on the part of a first-degree relative only, a second-degree relative only, or both a first- and second-degree relative. Compared to an age-matched control group with no family history of alcoholism (FH-), FH+ subjects, on the average, reported somewhat less formal education than did FH- subjects. However, no substantive differences in cognitive functioning were obtained among any family history subtypes. Nor were any predicted yet nonsignificant trends in the ordering of mean cognitive performance levels observed across groups. These results strongly suggest that cognitive deficits do not generally obtain in community samples of premorbid FH+ subjects, and, further, that specific genetic pedigrees, as defined in this study, do not contribute to variability in neuropsychological functioning. A typological approach wherein subtypes of FH+ individuals are defined multidimensionally may be necessary to capture sources of neurocognitive vulnerability in premorbid offspring.