Longitudinal relations between parental drinking problems, family functioning, and child adjustment

Abstract

Relations between maternal and paternal problem drinking symptoms and destructive marital conflict, parenting problems, and children's internalizing and externalizing problems were investigated. Participants were community families with a child in kindergarten who completed questionnaire measures at baseline (N=235), 1 year later (N=227), and 2 years later (N=215). Structural equation modeling revealed that paternal problem drinking at Time 1 was associated with greater destructive marital conflict 1 year later. In turn, destructive marital conflict was related to decreased parental warmth and increased parental psychological control; these parenting problems were associated with greater child internalizing and externalizing problems at the third time point. Further analyses revealed that the indirect effects of paternal drinking on children's adjustment were significant, and that relations remained even after including autoregressive effects. Findings are discussed in terms of family process models for relations between parental drinking and child adjustment problems.

Parental Problem Drinking, Marital Aggression, and Child Emotional Insecurity: A Longitudinal Investigation

“…Family confl ict (a construct including both marital and parent-child confl ict) accounted for associations between childhood exposure to PPD and adolescent substance use (Pillow et al, 1998); in longitudinal follow-up research, family confl ict was found to mediate relations between PPD and internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and diffi culties transitioning to adulthood (Hussong and Chassin, 2002). In a longitudinal study using the same data as the current study, a complex causal chain was observed in which PPD is most closely linked to marital confl ict, which subsequently interferes with parental warmth, ultimately leading to child maladjustment (Keller et al, 2008a).…”

“…Maternal problem drinking may alter the family context in distinct ways from paternal problem drinking, resulting in a troubled, but not dangerous, family context. Negative associations between women's problem drinking and verbal marital aggression have been reported elsewhere (Keller et al, 2008a). It is possible that women with alcohol problems withdraw from the marital relationship, resulting in less aggression and confl ict.…”

A Conceptual Model Predicting Internalizing Problems in Middle Childhood Among Children of Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Fathers: The Role of Marital Aggression

“…Finally, exposure to marital aggression may serve as a general source of stress, threatening the child's sense of security and leading to higher anxiety symptoms. This hypothesis has received much attention from proponents of the emotional security theory (Davies and Cummings, 1994) and has been supported by empirical evidence examining the processes explaining the association between marital aggression and child functioning (Keller et al, 2008).…”

Prevalence and patterns of problematic alcohol use among Australian parents

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Additionally, the longer-term impacts of parental alcohol use disorders on children have been noted in the literature, and include antisocial or aggressive behaviour, low self-esteem, and symptoms of depression or anxiety. [8][9][10] The impact of parents drinking at nondiagnostic levels (i.e.…”