Women's Reports of Negative,Neutral,and Positive Effects of Growing up with Alcoholic Parents

Abstract

Parental alcoholism does not necessarily result in negative outcomes for the offspring; we examined whether it would result in negative perceptions of the experience. Black women and White women with alcoholic parents (N = 126) rated and described the effect of parental alcoholism on them: 65% reported a negative effect, 26% reported a positive effect, and 7% reported a neutral effect. We examined these ratings in relation to the women's overall adult adjustment. More positive ratings were associated with being Black and with variables such as social support, experiencing lower family conflict, and having no alcohol problem oneself. Human service providers need greater access to research findings to see that children from these families will be diverse in their psychological and social functioning.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Amodeo

, Griffin

M. L.

, Fassler

I. R.

, Clay

C. M.

, & Ellis

M. A.

(2007). Coping with stressful events: Influence of parental alcoholism and race in a community sample of women. Health and Social Work, 32, 247–257.

Amodeo

, & Griffin

M. L.

(2009). Sibling agreement on retrospective reports of parental alcoholism and other childhood events. Substance Use and Misuse, 44(7), 943–964.

Anda

R. F.

, Whitfield

C. L.

, Felitti

V. J.

, Chapman

, Edwards

V. J.

, Dube

S. R.

, . (2002). Adverse childhood experiences, alcoholic parents, and later risk of alcoholism and depression. Psychiatric Services, 53, 1001–1009.

Bandura

(1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.

Bandura

(1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, 122–147.

Bray

J. H.

, Getz

J. G.

, & Baer

P. E.

(2000). Adolescent individuation and alcohol use in multi-ethnic youth. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61(4), 588–597.

Carle

A. C.

, & Chassin

(2004). Resilience in a community sample of children of alcoholics: Its prevalence and relation to internalizing symptomatology and positive affect. Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 577–595.

Charland

, & Cote

(1998). The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST): Test-retest reliability and concordance validity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54(7), 995–1003.

10.

Chassin

, Pitts

S. C.

, DeLucia

, & Todd

(1999). A longitudinal study of children of alcoholics: Predicting young adult substance use disorders, anxiety, and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 106–119.

11.

Clair

, & Genest

(1987). Variables associated with the adjustment of offspring of alcoholic fathers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 48, 345–355.

12.

Clay

C. M.

, Ellis

M. A.

, Amodeo

, Fassler

, & Griffin

M. L.

(2003). Recruiting a community sample of African American subjects: The nuts and bolts of a successful effort. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 84(3), 396–404.

13.

Clay

C. M.

, Ellis

M. A.

, Griffin

M. L.

, Amodeo

, & Fassler

I. R.

(2007). Black women and White women: Do perceptions of family environment differ? Family Process, 46(2), 243–256.

14.

DiClemente

C. C.

, Prochaska

J. O.

, & Gilbertini

(1985). Self-efficacy and the stages of change in smoking. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 9, 181–200.

15.

El-Sheikh

, & Buckhalt

J. A.

(2003). Parental problem drinking and children's adjustment: Attachment and family functioning as moderators and mediators of risk. Journal of Family Psychology, 17(4), 510–520.

16.

Greenfield

S. F.

, Swartz

M. S.

, Landerman

L. R.

, & George

L. K.

(1993). Longterm psychosocial effects of childhood exposure to parental problem drinking. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 608–613.

17.

Griffin

M. L.

, Amodeo

, Fassler

I. R.

, Ellis

M. A.

, & Clay

C. M.

(2005). Mediating factors for the long-term effects of parental alcoholism in women: The contribution of other childhood stresses and resources. American Journal on Addictions, 14, 18–34.

18.

Gruber

K. J.

, & Taylor

M. F.

(2006). A family perspective for substance abuse: Implications from the literature. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 6(1/2),1-30.

19.

Harter

S. L.

(2000). Psychosocial adjustment of adult children of alcoholics: A review of the recent empirical literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 20(3), 311–337.

20.

Harter

S. L.

, & Taylor

T. L.

(2000). Parental alcoholism, child abuse, and adult adjustment. Journal of Substance Abuse, 11(1), 31–44.

21.

Higgins

D. J.

, & McCabe

M. P.

(1994). The relationship of child sexual abuse and family violence to adult adjustment: Toward an integrated risk-sequelae model. Journal of Sex Research, 31(4), 255–266.

22.

Horwitz

A. V.

, Widom

C. S.

, McLaughlin

, & White

H. R.

(2001). The impact of childhood abuse and neglect on adult mental health: A prospective study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 184–201.

23.

Hussong

A. M.

, & Chassin

(1997). Substance use initiation among adolescent children of alcoholics: Testing protective factors. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58(3), 272–279.

24.

Jacob

, & Johnson

(1997). Parenting influences on the development of alcohol abuse and dependence. Alcohol Health and Research World, 21(3), 204–209.

25.

Jacob

, & Windle

(2000). Young adult children of alcoholic, depressed and nondistressed parents. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, 836–844.

26.

Jarmas

A. L.

, & Kazak

A. E.

(1992). Young adult children of alcoholic fathers: Depressive experiences, coping styles, and family systems. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(2), 244–251.

27.

Johnson

J. L.

, & Leff

(1999). Children of substance abusers: Overview of research findings. Pediatrics, 103(5), 1085–1098.

28.

Jones

J. W.

(1981). The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Chicago: Family Recovery Press.

29.

Kroll

(2004). Living with an elephant: Growing up with parental substance misuse. Child and Family Social Work, 9, 129–140.

30.

Leake

G. J.

, & King

A. S.

(1977). Effect of counselor expectations on alcoholic recovery. Alcohol Health and Research World, 11(3), 16–22.

31.

Lloyd

D. A.

, & Turner

R. J.

(2008). Cumulative lifetime adversities and alcohol dependence in adolescence and young adulthood. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 93, 217–226.

32.

Markowitz

(2004). Dynamics and treatment issues with children of drug and alcohol abusers. In Straussner

S. L. A.

(Ed.), Clinical work with substanceabusing clients (2nd ed.; pp. 284–302). New York: Guilford Press.

33.

Merrill

L. L.

, Thomsen

C. J.

, Sinclair

B. B.

, Gold

S. R.

, & Milner

J. S.

(2001). Predicting the impact of child sexual abuse on women: The role of abuse severity, parental support, and coping strategies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69(6), 992–1006.

34.

Moos

R. H.

(1992a). Coping Responses Inventory: Adult Form manual. Palo Alto, CA: Center for Health Care Evaluation, Stanford University and Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

35.

Moos

R. H.

(1992b). Stress and coping theory and evaluation research: An integrated perspective. Evaluation Review, 16(5), 534–553.

36.

Moos

R. H.

, & Billings

(1982a). Children of alcoholics during the recovery process: Alcoholic and matched control families. Addictive Behaviors, 7, 155–163.

37.

Moos

R. H.

, & Billings

A. G.

(1982b). Conceptualizing and measuring coping resources and processes. In Goldberger

& Brenznitz

(Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 212–230). New York: Macmillan.

38.

Moos

R. H.

, Cronkite

R. C.

, Billings

A. G.

, & Finney

J. W.

(1984). Health and Daily Living Form manual. Palo Alto, CA: Social Ecology Laboratory, Veterans’ Administration and Stanford University Medical Center.

39.

Moos

R. H.

, Finney

, & Chan

(1981). The process of recovery from alcoholism: Comparing alcoholic parents and matched community controls. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 42, 383–402.

40.

Moos

R. H.

, & Moos

(1981). Family Environment Scale manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press.

41.

Neff

J. A.

(1994). Adult children of alcoholic or mentally ill parents: Alcohol consumption and psychological distress in a tri-ethnic community study. Addictive Behaviors, 19, 185–197.

42.

Nicholas

K. B.

, & Rasmussen

E. H.

(2006). Childhood abusive and supportive experiences, inter-parental violence, and parental alcohol use: Prediction of young adult depressive symptoms and aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 21(1), 43–61.

43.

Ohannessian

C. M.

, Hesselbrock

V. M.

, Kramer

, Kuperman

, Bucholz

K. K.

, Schuckit

M. A.

, . (2004). The relationship between parental alcoholism and adolescent psychopathology: A systematic examination of parental comorbid psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 32(5), 519–533.

44.

Patterson

E. T.

, Charles

H. L.

, Woodward

W. A.

, Roberts

W. R.

, & Penk

W. E.

(1981). Differences in measures of personality and family environment among Black and White alcoholics. Journal of Consulting and Counseling Psychology, 49(1), 1–9.

45.

Robins

L. N.

, Schoenberg

S. P.

, Holmes

S. J.

, Ratcliff

K. S.

, Benham

, & Works

(1985). Early home environment and retrospective recall: A test for concordance between siblings with and without psychiatric disorders. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 55(1), 27–41.

46.

Romans

, Martin

, & Mullen

(1997). Childhood sexual abuse and later psychological problems: Neither necessary, sufficient nor acting alone. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 7(4), 327–338.

47.

Rosenberg

(1972). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

48.

Sarason

I. G.

, Sarason

B. R.

, Shearin

E. N.

, & Pierce

G. R.

(1987). A brief measure of social support: Practical and theoretical implications. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 4, 497–510.

49.

Thomas

W. I.

(1967). The unadjusted girl: With cases and standpoint for behavioral analysis. New York: Harper & Row.

50.

Thomas

W. I.

, & Thomas

D. S.

(1928). The child in America: Behavior problems and programs. New York: Knopf.

51.

Weissman

M. M.

, & Bothwell

(1976). Assessment of social adjustment of patient self-report. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 1111–1115.

52.

Werner

E. E.

(1986). Resilient offspring of alcoholics: A longitudinal study from birth to age 18. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 47, 34–40.

53.

Werner

E. E.

, & Johnson

J. L.

(2004). The role of caring adults in the lives of children of alcoholics. Substance Use and Misuse, 39(5), 699–720.

54.

Windle

(1997). Concepts and issues in COA research. Alcohol Health and Research World, 21(3), 185–191.

55.

Wood

, Wylie

M. L.

, & Sheafor

(1969). An analysis of a short self-report measure of life satisfaction: Correlation with rater judgments. Journal of Gerontology, 24, 465–469.

56.

Wright

D. M.

, & Heppner

P. P.

(1993). Examining the well-being of non-clinical college students: Is knowledge of the presence of parental alcoholism useful? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 40(3), 324–334.