This research tested the effect of social drinking models on the drinking behavior of 19-to 21year-old subjects with (FH+) and without (FH-) family histories of problem drinking. The project involved 50 subjects (24 FH+ and 26 FH-) whose drinking habits did not differ. Measures of alcohol intake and the resulting blood alcohol concentration each indicated an interaction between FH and model treatment. The drinking by FH+ subjects changed significantly to conform with the model. Similar but nonsignificant model effects were displayed by FH-subjects. The evidence suggests that social drinking models may have a particularly salient influence on the drinking behavior of FH+ individuals. Because modeling effects have not previously been explored in relation to family history of problem drinking, the present study identifies a promising direction for research on the etiology of alcohol abuse and the development of prevention programs.Many family and adoption studies investigating hereditary components in the etiology of alcoholism suggest that male children of alcoholics are more likely to develop alcoholism than are similar children of nonalcoholic parents (Goodwin, 1979;