Children Of Alcoholics Growing Into Adulthood

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seventy six million Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. That means one out of four families is affected by an alcoholic, making alcoholism responsible for more family problems than any other single cause (Parsons). Alcoholism is a disease that not only affects the individual, but also everyone around the alcoholic. Alcoholics can make irrational decisions that are harmful not only to themselves but also to the people around them. These irrational decisions can cause financial instability for the household which, in turn, contributes to neglect.

Many people across the world suffer from alcoholism, a family disease. It is called a family disease because the addiction harms the alcoholic, and everyone who has to live with them. Children consistently suffer when they share a house with an alcoholic. Unfortunately, alcoholism is common and many children find themselves in this situation. The emotional and psychological scars that children can develop in alcoholic homes can be so deep that they can last well into adulthood. Youth who grew up in an alcoholic home can develop similar personality traits and characteristics. Approximately 26.8 million children are exposed to alcoholism in the family and 6.6 million children 18 and younger live in households with at least one alcoholic

likely to becomes unpredictable. For example, the drinker may become easily agitated and abusive. Another area of family functioning which is often affected by alcohol misuse relates to the kind of communications that takes place between family members.

Most would assume that the biggest problems incurred by an alcoholic would be on themselves, but I would argue that it is on the relationships that they have with their peers. Someone who may appear as a fully functioning individual may be extremely dangerous, dishonest, and destructive while under the influence. This scenario occurs in “The Glass Castle” with Rex Walls. The Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health defines alcoholism as “a chronic physical, psychological, and behavioral disorder characterized by the excessive, compulsive, and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol”. According to Klean Treatment Centers, there are three ways alcoholism affects the whole family: emotional hostages, stress,

Children of Alcoholics (COAs) refer to children living in families where a parent abuse alcohol, dependence, and addiction is present. COAs have different life experience than children in non alcoholic families. Which contribute to the fact that living with an alcoholic can cause stress for members in the family Statistics show that eighteen percent

(NIH, ‘‘Children of Alcoholics: How Are Children Impacted?’’). From personal experience, it can cause trusting issues, more sensitivity to the subject of drinking (or not), and social

Another considerable factor of this problem is the influence these substances have on children. Alcoholism in the home is an extremely hard issue to cope with as a child. Domestic violence, which is often worsened by alcohol abuse, causes a lot of mental issues that affect children permanently. Many kids do not have a stable home and are forced to see their parents and loved ones struggle with drinking (Hopkins 7). Suffering through the effects of drugs and alcohol also make education a challenge. Children often times stay home from school or are inattentive during class due to lack of sleep from late-night parties or rowdiness at home.This makes it almost impossible to succeed later in life and lets the problem continue onto the next generation.

An alcoholic parent can affect what a child thinks is morally acceptable because, they are more tolerant of misbehavior, and often are not very moral people themselves. Alcoholic parents may not often be present or in a stable state of mind, allowing their children to partake in the activities they choose, which are often bad for them. The parents are not conscientious enough to put down the actions, making the child think they are acceptable. Children of alcoholics are more likely to steal and be violent, use drugs and or alcohol, and be engaged in activities that are potentially dangerous ("Children Of Alcoholics | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry"). They are being raised in an environment where they see this happening, and then imitate it, because that is how they think a person is allowed to act. Some children are just copying what they see their parents do. Alcohol may be the parents’ way to deal with the pressures of daily life, and children observe the use of alcohol as a coping mechanism, making

Children with alcoholic parents suffer all kinds of abuse and it is often life threatening (20). Addiction is not something that begins and ends with one person, the impact addiction has is tremendous and devastating. "Addiction sends shock waves through an entire family unit" (Straussner 1). Over 27 million children live with an alcoholic parent. It is nearly impossible to find children from alcoholic homes who are completely unscathed (The Visitation Handbook for the Custodial Parent 167). Children who grow up with alcoholic parents are forced to mature and grow up much sooner than they ought. Over 22 million adults have come out and said they have lived with an alcohol parent when they were a child (Seixas and Youcha xi). Alcohol continues to be predominant in The United States, because it is a drug that works for the majority of people. Alcohol allows a person to temporarily escape from the problems they are suffering. Most people reap the consequences of previous actions daily and therefore turn to alcohol which allows them to temporarily escape reality. Alcohol may allow people to escape their reality for a time being, but it also creates a horrific reality for 27 million

In this context, we will use binge drinking to describe the abuse of alcohol. Wechsler and Nelson (2001) defines binge drinking as for drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks at one time in the span of half a month for men and 4 or more drinks for women in that same time frame.

Addiction not only affects the addicted, but changes the lives of those around them. Direct family of the addicted, particularly their children, are always the most influenced. Alcoholic parents can affect the lives of their children by causing mental health problems, physical health problems, and passing on their alcoholism to their children. Alcoholic parents should think about their actions before exposing their children to this lifestyle, because it can alter who they are. Not only could living this life fill them with sadness, but they could also learn behaviors from their parents.

The first question that needs to be answered is that if the alcoholism is as bad as it sounds and if these problems caused by alcoholism have an effect on the children of alcoholics. The easy answer is yes, it has a negative effect on the children, but not many people can talk about what negative effects growing with alcoholic parents may cause. The problems

Guilt: Children may feel they are responsible for the drinking, 2. Anxiety: Children may worry constantly about the home situation, 3. Embarrassment: Children may be ashamed of their home lives and avoid having friends to visit, 4. Unable to have close friendships: Children who have been disappointed, 5. Confusion: An alcoholic parent will switch from a loving to an angry stance quickly, confusing the child. The home schedule is also chaotic with no consistent bedtimes or mealtimes, 6. Anger: Children may be angry at the parent who is drinking and angry at the nonalcoholic parent for not supporting or protecting them, 7. Depression: Children of substance-abusing parents are lonely and feel helpless to change the situation”. These are the problems that children of alcoholic is going to experience of the course of their

Change of behavior caused by alcohols has negative impacts on one's surrounding and will, eventually, creates a rift among loved ones. Alcoholic can do anything without thinking for the future as long as they get the money to buy alcohol, ones may use the rental money for the house to buy alcohol and the worst case could happen is he loses his jobs. With this, drinker cannot be dependent on and divorce is inevitable as he could no longer support his family. Not few child abuse cases caused by alcoholic parents. Studies have shown that "2/3 of child abuse case involves alcohol" ("Facts about alcohol"). Family members also began to avoid friends, hide problems and cover up for the drinker as they are ashamed of their family member who is alcoholic. "More than one-half of American adults have a close family member who has or has had alcoholism" ("Dawson and Grant") Moreover, there is higher chances for their teenager child to be alcoholic too as they are used to seeing their parents drunk.

A study by Wolin and associates determined that children who originated from alcoholic families were not able to function in terms of behavior and emotion as successfully as those who originated from non alcoholic families. In the study, children of alcoholics scored notably lower when researchers looked at their behavioral and emotional