Drinking style of parents of alcoholic and control probands.

One aspect of the familial component of alcoholism is the use of alcohol among the parents of affected individuals. Both the individual and concordant drinking styles of the parents of 291 inpatient alcoholic probands and 71 non-alcoholic control subjects were measured using family history methods. Social drinking was almost twice as prevalent among fathers of controls compared to fathers of alcoholics. Problem drinking was more than twice as prevalent among the fathers of alcoholics compared to fathers of controls. The abstinence rate for fathers of both groups was similar. Mothers' drinking styles were similar to the fathers' pattern for both groups. Concordance of drinking style in the parental pair was examined. Similarity in drinking style for the parents of control probands was greatest for social drinking. For parents of alcoholic probands high concordance was also found by problem drinking. Overall a great similarity in drinking style was found for the parents of control probands compared to the parents of alcoholic probands.