Populations at high alcoholism risk: recent findings.

This article reviews recent studies of men at high risk for the future development of alcoholism. The most promising differences between young men with and without a family history of this disorder include a decreased intensity of reaction to ethanol for sons of alcoholics compared with control subjects, a decreased amplitude of the P300 wave of the event-related potential, and a different pattern of background cortical electroencephalograms (alpha waves) for subjects at high risk for future alcoholism. The implications of these and other findings and their possible future impact on the clinical practice are discussed.