Parental history of alcohol abuse and the effects of alcohol and expectations of intoxication on social stress.

Male and female social drinkers, half of whom had a biological father who abused alcohol, were exposed to a social stressor (anticipation and delivery of a public speech) after consuming either a moderate dose of alcohol or tonic water. Half of each group were led to believe that they had consumed alcohol, the other half tonic water, yielding a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Intoxication, but not beliefs about having consumed alcohol, significantly reduced subjective anxiety and negative self-evaluation in response to the stressor in both men and women. Parental history of alcohol abuse differentially affected alcohol's influence on mood, but not measures of subjective intoxication, subjective physiological responses to alcohol, beliefs about alcohol's effects on behavior, or reactivity to the stressor.