Alcoholism: Is It Hereditary? The kind of clear-cut model of the genetic sources of alcoholism perceived by the public and presented in popular tracts does not accurately reflect the state of knowledge in this area. No persuasive genetic mechanism has been proposed to account for accumulated data about alcoholic behavior, social differences in alcoholism rates or the unfolding of the disease. Biological findings about the offspring of alcoholics have been inconsistent and grounds exist to challenge the notion of an enhanced genetic liability for alcoholism that has been accepted wisdom for the last decade