Research on Children of Alcoholics: past and future

Abstract

There are 28.6 million children of alcoholics in the United States; one out of every eight Americans. Many of them suffer negative physical, mental and emotional consequences as a result of parental alcoholism. Research investigations of their health status, cognitive abilities and adaptive behaviors confirm these problems although notable impediments to research efforts presently exist. Among the fruitful areas for future study are investigations which explore levels of vulnerability and risk factors for children of alcoholics in combination with genetic and psychosocial factors. Other recommendations for study as well as the major activities of the Children of Alcoholics Foundation to promote and disseminate research findings and new data are described.

Intergenerational Effects—A Review of Environmentally Oriented Studies Concerning the Relationship between Parental Alcohol Problems and Family Disharmony in the Genesis of Alcohol and Other Problems. I: The Intergenerational Effects of Alcohol Problems

“…Since this work has been reviewed on a number of recent occasions (e.g., Warner and Rosett, 1975;Offord, 1977, 1979;Wilson, 1980Wilson, , 1982Velleman and Orford, 1984;West andPrinz, 1987;Woodside, 1988;Orford, 1990), it will be summarized only briefly here. In general, the results of this work have been to build up a remarkably consistent picture suggesting that parental alcohol problems produce a high risk in children of a wide variety of emotional and behavioral disorders.…”

Alcohol Use and Abuse: A Pediatric Concern

“…25,26 Daughters of alcoholics are also at increased risk for alcoholism and are more likely to marry alcoholic men, thereby continuing the cycle of family problems with alcohol. 27 In the United States, 7 million children younger than 18 years have alcoholic parents. Adult alcohol abuse contributes to 50% of reported instances of marital violence and 35% to 70% of child abuse cases.…”

Detección de problemas relacionados con el alcohol en la familia a través de los hijos

“…Si bien pueden realizarse pocas afirmaciones contundentes hasta el momento, extraemos algunas de las más interesantes conclusiones a las que llegan los principales estudios de revisión sobre el tema (Aragón et al, 1997;El-Guebaly y Offord, 1977;Giglio y Kauffman, 1990;Parker y Hardford, 1987;West y Prinz, 1987;Woodside, 1988). En primer lugar, se ha establecido que no existe ningún síndro-me o trastorno específico y diferencial que pueda ser identificado como propio o característico, aunque sí se hallan evidencias respecto al mayor número de conflictos familiares, mayor abuso físico y sexual dvirante la niñez y mayor variedad de problemas emocionales en esta población; finalmente, atendiendo a edad y género, son los varones de menor edad los que presentan más alteraciones.…”