Neuropsychological characteristics in children of alcoholics: familial density.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of high-risk studies is to find characteristics that allow the identification of subjects with a higher vulnerability to alcoholism. The aim of this research was to verify if the familial density criterion is useful for subtyping children of alcoholics with different neuropsychological characteristics.


METHODS
A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 102 boys and girls of 7-15 years of age; 66 were children of alcoholics with a high (n = 32) and low (n = 34) familial density of alcoholism, and 36 were children of nonalcoholic fathers with a negative family history of the disorder. The battery included tests to assess attention, visuospatial abilities and frontal functions.


RESULTS
MANCOVAs showed that high-density children scored lower than children of nonalcoholic fathers in attentional and visuospatial tasks. There were no differences between low-density and negative family history children in these cognitive domains.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that children of alcoholics are not a homogeneous group. Children with multigenerational alcoholism, but not children with an alcoholic father, showed reduced performance in specific cognitive areas.
Corral
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MM
Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Coruña, Spain.
Holguín
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SR
Cadaveira
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F
D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors