Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on April 19, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2006 41(4):426-430; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl026
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ATTENTIONAL BIAS FOR ALCOHOL-RELATED INFORMATION IN ADOLESCENTS WITH ALCOHOL-DEPENDENT PARENTS
1 Academic Unit of Psychiatry, Cotham House, Bristol BS6 6JL and 2 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK, 3 Neuropsychiatric (PET/SPECT) Brain Imaging Laboratory, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Sourasky Medical Centre, Weizman 6, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel, 4 Bristol Area Specialist Alcohol Service, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, 12 Mortimer Road, Bristol BS8 4EX and 5 The Psychopharmacology Unit, University of Bristol, Dorothy Hodgkin Building, Whitson Street, Bristol BS1 3NY, UK
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Experimental Psychology, 8 Woodland Road, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK; Tel.: +44 117 928 8575; Fax: +44 117 928 8588; E-mail: Brian.Stollery{at}Bristol.ac.uk
(Received 2 June 2005; first review notified 7 July 2005; accepted in revised form 16 March 2006)
Aims: to assess the attentional bias for alcohol-related information in adolescents with (n = 15), and without (n = 15), a parental history of alcohol dependence. Methods: participants completed questionnaires assessing depression, weekly alcohol consumption, anxiety, and concerns about alcohol consumption and undertook subliminal and supraliminal computerized Stroop tasks using colour-words, alcohol-related words, and control words. Results: adolescents with alcohol-dependent parents showed supraliminal interference for alcohol-related words. The magnitude of this interference was correlated with higher trait and state anxiety, and lower levels of weekly alcohol consumption. No interference was found on the subliminal alcohol Stroop task. Conclusions: while it is likely that this attentional bias for alcohol-related cues reflects the concerns regarding parental drinking, it is also possible that this might underlie the increased risk of future alcohol dependence in the children of alcohol-dependent parents.