The Reciprocal Influences of Perceived Risk for Alcoholism and Alcohol Use Over Time: Evidence for Aversive Transmission of Parental Alcoholism

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: This study examined how perceived risk for alcoholism and alcohol use infl uenced each other over time. We hypothesized an aversive transmission mechanism, by which some children of alcoholics may reduce their drinking because they perceive themselves to be at risk for future alcohol problems because of their parents' alcoholism. Method: Using participants (N = 804, 47% female) from an ongoing longitudinal study of children of alcoholics (e.g., Chassin et al., 1991), we examined the reciprocal prospective relations between perceived risk for alcoholism and drinking across three measurement occasions, and also tested whether perceived risk for alcoholism mediated the effect of perceived parental alcoholism on subsequent drinking. Results: Mediation analyses provided evidence for aversive transmission, in which the effect of perceived parental alcoholism on alcohol use during young adulthood was decreased to the extent that perceived parental alcoholism predicted higher levels of perceived risk for alcoholism during emerging adulthood. Results indicated reciprocal effects between perceived risk for alcoholism and drinking over time, such that higher levels of perceived risk were associated with lower levels of drinking. Results were replicated using both self-report and collateral-report of alcohol use, and using both actual and perceived parental alcoholism. Conclusions: Young adults may avoid drinking when they perceive their parent(s) to be alcoholic, and consequently perceive themselves to be at elevated risk for alcoholism. Given that beliefs about risk for alcoholism are potentially modifi able, increasing self-perceived risk for alcoholism may be one feasible way to reduce the intergenerational transmission of alcohol disorders within families. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 71, 588-596, 2010)

Adolescent Women Induce Lower Blood Alcohol Levels Than Men in a Laboratory Alcohol Self‐Administration Experiment

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Health‐related lifestyle, physical and mental health in children of alcoholic parents

“…Professionals working with COAs should pay special attention to the health promotion and health protection of these children and adolescents. Young adults avoided drinking when they perceived their parent(s) to be alcoholic, and consequently perceived themselves to be at elevated risk for alcoholism [59]. Increasing the awareness of other health risks of COAs could be a feasible way to improve their healthrelated lifestyle.…”

Perceived parental alcohol problems and drinking patterns in youth: A cross-sectional study of 69,030 secondary education students in Denmark

“…Though most studies have found evidence of imitative transmission of drinking patterns from parents to children [1-9, 20, 21], aversive transmission has also been found among young people with parents with alcohol problems [14,17,22]. Some young people with parental alcohol problems may choose to reduce their drinking or abstain completely in order to avoid the negative consequences of alcohol use observed in their parents [14,22]. Hence, parental alcohol problems may have bidirectional effects on children's drinking, leading to more risky drinking patterns in some and less drinking or non-drinking in others.…”