Neuropsychological differences between sons of active alcoholic and non-alcoholic fathers.

Ten- to fourteen-year-old sons of active alcoholic fathers (n = 59) with a positive family history of alcoholism (AFH+) and sons of social drinker fathers (n = 58) with a negative family history of alcoholism (NFH-) were administered a battery of neuropsychological tasks. Areas of cognitive function which were assessed were memory, visuospatial and attentional abilities and, in addition, motor skills and general intellectual functioning. MANOVAs conducted on these measures showed that sons of active alcoholic fathers' performance on the more difficult visuospatial and memory tasks as well as on an attentional test was reduced relative to sons of non-alcoholic fathers.