Sons of alcoholics report greater hangover symptoms than sons of nonalcoholics: a pilot study.

We investigated alcohol-induced hangovers among college men at high and low risk for alcoholism. Thirteen sons of alcoholics reported significantly (p less than 0.001) greater hangover symptoms in the past year than 25 sons of nonalcoholics. The two groups reported comparable quantity-frequency of recent drinking. To the extent that hangover represents an acute withdrawal syndrome to alcohol, this raises the question of whether sons of alcoholics are "dependence-prone."