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Children of Alcoholics:
Important Facts
- Alcoholism affects the entire family.
- Living with a non-recovering alcoholic in the
family can contribute to stress for all members of
the family. Each member may be affected differently.
Not all alcoholic families experience or react to
this stress in the same way. The level of dysfunction
or resiliency of the non-alcoholic spouse is a key
factor in the effects of problems impacting children.
- Children raised in alcoholic families have
different life experiences than children raised in
non-alcoholic families. Children raised in other types
of dysfunctional families may have similar developmental losses and stressors as do
children raised in alcoholic families.
- Children living with a non-recovering
alcoholic score lower on measures of family
cohesion, intellectual-cultural orientation,
active-recreational orientation, and independence. They also
usually experience higher levels of conflict within
the family.
-
Many children of alcoholics (COAs)
experience other family members as distant and non-communicative.
- Children of alcoholics may be hampered by
their inability to grow in developmentally healthy ways.
Many people report being exposed
to alcoholism in their families.
- Seventy six million Americans, about 43% of
the U.S. adult population, have been exposed to alcoholism in the family.
- Almost one in five adult Americans (18%)
lived with an alcoholic while growing up.
- Roughly one in eight American adult drinkers
is alcoholic or experiences problems due to the use
of alcohol. The cost to society is estimated at in
excess of $166 billion each year.
- There are an estimated 26.8 million COAs in
the United States. Preliminary research suggests
that over 11 million are under the age of 18.
There is strong, scientific evidence
that alcoholism tends to run in families. Children of alcoholics are more at risk
for alcoholism and other drug abuse than children of non-alcoholics.
- Children of alcoholics are four times more
likely than non-COAs to develop alcoholism.
- Genetic factors play a major role in the
development of alcoholism. There is an expanding base
of literature which strongly supports a heritable
basis for alcoholism and a range of family influences
that may direct the development of children of alcoholics.
- Children's perceptions of parental drinking
quantity and circumstances appear to influence their
own drinking frequency.
- Children's alcohol expectancies reflect recognition
of alcohol-related norms and a cognizance of
parental drinking patterns by a very early age.
- Alcohol expectancies appear to be one of
the mechanisms explaining the relationship between paternal alcoholism and heavy drinking
among offspring during college.
- Parental alcoholism and other drug
dependencies have an impact upon children's early learning
about alcohol and other drugs.
- Family interaction patterns also may influence
the COA's risk for alcohol abuse. It has been
found that families with an alcoholic parent
displayed more negative family interaction during
problem-solving discussions than in non-alcoholic families.
- Almost one-third of any sample of alcoholics has
at least one parent who also was or is an alcoholic.
- Children of alcoholics are more likely than non-COAs to marry into families in which alcoholism is prevalent.
- Parental alcoholism influences adolescent
substance use through several different pathways
including stress, negative affect and decreased
parental monitoring. Negative affect and impaired
parental monitoring are associated with adolescent's
joining in a peer network that supports drug use behavior.
- After drinking alcohol, sons of alcoholics
experience more of the physiological changes associated
with pleasurable effects compared with sons of
non-alcoholics, although only immediately after drinking.
Alcoholism usually has strong
negative effects on marital relationships.
- Separated and divorced men and women were
three times as likely as married men and women to
say they had been married to an alcoholic or
problem drinker.
- Almost two-thirds of separated and
divorced women, and almost half of separated or
divorced men, under age 46, have been exposed to alcoholism in the family at some time.
Alcohol is associated with a
substantial proportion of human violence, and
perpetrators are often under the influence of alcohol.
- Alcohol is a key factor in 68% of
manslaughters, 62% of assaults, 54% of murders and
attempted murders, 48% of robberies, and 44% of burglaries.
- Studies of family violence frequently document
high rates of alcohol and other drug involvement.
- COAs may be more likely to be the targets
of physical abuse and to witness family violence.
- Compared with non-alcoholic families,
alcoholic families demonstrate poorer
problem-solving abilities, both among the parents and within
the family as a whole. These poor communication
and problem-solving skills may be mechanisms
through which lack of cohesion and increased
conflict develop and escalate in alcoholic families.
- COAs are more at risk for disruptive
behavioral problems and are more likely than non-COAs to
be sensation seeking, aggressive, and impulsive.
Based on clinical observations and
preliminary research, a relationship between parental alcoholism and child abuse
is indicated in a large proportion of child abuse cases.
- A significant number of children in this country
are being raised by addicted parents. With more
than one million children confirmed each year as
victims of child abuse and neglect by state child
protective service agencies, state welfare records
have indicated that substance abuse is one of the top
two problems exhibited by families in 81% of the reported cases.
- Studies suggest an increased prevalence
of alcoholism among parents who abuse children.
- Existing research suggests alcoholism is
more strongly related to child abuse than are
other disorders, such as parental depression.
- Although several studies report very high rates
of alcoholism among the parents of incest victims, much additional research is needed in this area.
Children of alcoholics exhibit symptoms
of depression and anxiety more than children of non-alcoholics.
- In general, COAs appear to have lower
self-esteem than non-COAs in childhood, adolescence
and young adulthood.
- Children of alcoholics exhibit elevated rates
of psychopathology. Anxiety, depression, and externalizing behavior disorders are more
common among COAs than among children of non-alcoholics.
- Young COAs often show symptoms of
depression and anxiety such as crying, bed wetting, not
having friends, being afraid to go to school, or
having nightmares. Older youth may stay in their
rooms for long periods of time and not relate to
other children claiming they "have no one to talk to."
Teens may show depressive symptoms by being perfectionistic in their endeavors, hoarding,
staying by themselves, and being excessively self-conscious.
Teenage COAs may begin to develop phobias.
Children of alcoholics experience
greater physical and mental health problems and higher health care costs than children
from non-alcoholic families.
- Inpatient admission rates for substance abuse
are triple that of other children.
- Inpatient admission rates for mental disorders
are almost double that of other children.
- Injuries are more than one and one-half
times greater than those of other children.
- The rate of total health care costs for children
of alcoholics is 32% greater than children from
non-alcoholic families.
Children of alcoholics score lower on
tests measuring verbal ability.
- COAs tend to score lower on tests that
measure cognitive and verbal skills. Their ability to
express themselves may be impaired, which can
impede their school performance, peer relationships,
ability to develop and sustain intimate relationships,
and hamper performance on job interviews.
- Low verbal scores, however, should not imply
that COAs are intellectually impaired.
Children of alcoholics often have difficulties in school.
- COAs often believe that they will be failures even
if they do well academically. They often do not
view themselves as successful.
- Children of alcoholics are more likely to be raised
by parents with poorer cognitive abilities and in
an environment lacking stimulation. A lack of stimulation in the rearing environment may
account in part for the pattern of failure found in
COAs compared with non-COAs.
- Pre-school aged COAs exhibited poorer
language and reasoning skills than did non-COAs, and
poorer performance among the COAs was predicted by
the lower quality of stimulation present in the home.
- COAs are more likely to be truant, drop out
of school, repeat grades, or be referred to a
school counselor, or psychologist. This may have little
to do with academic ability; rather, COAs may have difficulty bonding with teachers, other students
and school; they may experience anxiety related to performance; or they may be afraid of failure.
The actual reasons have yet to be determined.
- There is an increasing body of scientific
evidence indicating that risk for later problems, and
even alcoholic outcomes is detectable early in the
life course and, in some instances, before school entry.
Children of alcoholics have greater
difficulty with abstraction and conceptual reasoning.
- Abstraction and conceptual reasoning play
an important role in problem solving, whether
the problems are academic or are situation related
to the problems of life. Therefore, children of alcoholics might require very concrete
explanations and instructions.
Children of alcoholics may benefit
from adult efforts which help them to:
- Develop autonomy and independence.
- Develop a strong social orientation and social skills.
- Engage in acts of "required helpfulness."
- Develop a close bond with a care-giver.
- Cope successfully with emotionally
hazardous experiences.
- Perceive their experiences constructively, even
if those experiences cause pain or suffering, and
gain, early in life, other people's positive attention.
- Develop day-to-day coping strategies.
Children can be protected from
many problems associated with growing up in an alcoholic family.
- If healthy family rituals or traditions, such
as vacations, mealtimes or holidays, are highly
valued and maintained, if the active alcoholic is
confronted with his or her problem, if there are
consistent significant others in the life of the child or
children, and if there is moderate to high
religious observance, children can be protected from many
of the consequences of parental alcoholism.
Maternal alcohol consumption during
any time of pregnancy can cause alcohol related birth defects or alcohol
related neurological deficits.
- The rate of drinking during pregnancy appears to be increasing.
- Prenatal alcohol effects have been detected
at moderate levels of alcohol consumption by non-alcoholic women. Even though a mother is not
an alcoholic, her child may not be spared the effects
of prenatal alcohol exposure.
- Cognitive performance is less affected by
alcohol exposure in infants and children whose
mothers stopped drinking in early pregnancy, despite
the mothers' resumption of alcohol use after
giving birth.
- One analysis of 6 year-olds, with
demonstrated effects of second-trimester alcohol exposure,
had lower academic achievement and problems with reading, spelling, and mathematical skills.
- Approximately 6 percent of the offspring
of alcoholic women have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS); the FAS risk for offspring born after an
FAS sibling, is as high as 70 percent.
- Those diagnosed as having Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome had IQ scores ranging from 20-105 with a mean
of 68. Subjects also demonstrated poor
concentration and attention.
- People with FAS demonstrate growth
deficits, morphologic abnormalities, mental retardation,
and behavioral difficulties. Secondary effects of
FAS among adolescents and adults include mental
health problems, disrupted schooling (dropping out
or being suspended or expelled), trouble with the
law, dependent living as an adult, and problems
with employment.
Source: SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Drug and Alcohol Information
Page last modified or reviewed on August 28, 2007
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