Children With Parents Who Suffer From Alcohol Addiction

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

This variable was calculated as the average absolute alcohol intake by the subject per day as measured in a standard oz.. These figures were then tabulated and calculated on a daily basis for the entire term of the woman’s pregnancy. The Dependant Variable identified within this research study was in the form of a parent questionnaire referred to as the CBCL. The CBCL is appropriate for children from the ages of 4 to 16 years old when assessing a child’s behavior and has been used extensively in previous research. Given the demographics of the sample set, it is important to point out that the CBCL is written at a 5th grade reading

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.

Teens that do the underage drinking can have many health problems. Health problems that can be caused by underage drinking is Death, serious injuries, impaired judgment, increased risk for physical and sexual assault, brain development problems. All of these health problems are serious, and they aren’t thought about by teens before they have a drink. (Underage) Impaired judgments can be considered irresponsible drinking. Significant increase were also found for other variables: “cutting class after drinking” jumped from 9% to almost 12%; “missing class because of hangover” went from 26% to 28%; “getting lower grades because of drinking” rose from 5% to 7% and “been in a fight after drinking” increased from 12% to 17%; these are examples of irresponsible behavior. (Dr. Ruth)

Drug use by parents and/or older siblings, coupled with tolerant parental viewpoints concerning drug usage by young people, can put youth at a greater risk of drug and alcohol use (Yu, 2003). Close parental supervision along with strongly promoted household rules influence and help deter the use of alcohol/drugs among youth (Yu, 2003). 7 million of American adolescents younger than 18 years old have parents that are alcoholics (Yu, 2003). Children of alcohol abusers have a greater chance of having behavioral and medical problems. This includes criminal behavior, learning disabilities, ADHD, emotional/ mental conditions, and problematic drinking or alcoholism once they’re adults (Yu,

Get hooked on drinking to stave off withdrawal symptoms. Also, younger family members tend to mimic the alcohol use patterns of their parents, siblings, and other family members. Peers also influence drinking behavior. Some studies shows that regardless of family history of alcoholism, a lack of parental monitoring, severe and recurrent family conflict and poor parent-child relationships can contribute to alcohol abuse in adolescents. Children with conduct skills as well as those with little connection to parents, other family members, or school may be at an increased risk for alcohol abuse.

In order for an individual to be considered a heavy drinker they would have to drunken five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of five or more days in the past thirty days. If an adolescent had access to only a small shot of alcohol then they could not be classified as a heavy drinker because there would not be enough alcohol in their system to get them drunk. In order to be a heavy drinker a person must have a ready access to a larger amount of alcohol. The effects of an individual heavily drinking does not only put them at risk for substance abuse; it can also effect members of the family. The heavy drinking can lead to another person having psychopathological problem. In the next study, scientist wanted to know if psychopathological problems could also be effected by parenting

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

Growing up with an alcoholic parent or parents can be a very difficult thing and mentally tiring. Day to day activities can be more of a challenge and feel like an impossible struggle due to constant worry, doubt or fear. They may grow up without proper care, love or encouragement to learn and succeed. A few of the things that can interfere with the child with an alcoholic parent includes school life, social interactions and at home. A child who is forced to grow up from birth around alcoholism has a higher chance of becoming an alcoholic themselves.

In what ways does a parent’s alcoholism impact children’s social competence? What family variables have the most effect on social competence? In this paper, I will analyze three sources to answer these questions. An academic research study, a blog post describing a woman's experience growing up with an alcoholic mother, and an interview with a therapist at a treatment center for alcohol and drug addiction will give a diverse and thorough analysis through triangulation. The sources agreed that a parental alcoholism caused children to have more trouble making friends, low self-esteem, and that children can improve their social competence over time. The research study found that the interaction between the gender of the child and gender of the alcoholic parent had the greatest influence on social competence.

People who drink are more than likely to have poor Academics. There is a clear relationship between alcohol use and academic performance among college students (Pediatrics 1). Students with grades of D or F drink 3 times as much as those who earn A’s …the effects on less mature individuals may be even more significant (Pediatrics 2). Poor academics can lend to students dropping out of school . Heavy drinking in high school also is associated with multiple interpersonal , academic, legal and neurocognitive consequences (Doumas 1). Poor academics can cause changes in behavior

The results of this study proved that a majority of the students ended up having a “C” average with 35.8%, and more students came out with an “F” average versus an “A” average. (Thombs et al., 2009) This information just brings to light how important it is to succeed in college, and how students should be trained at a young age how to prevent falling behind in college in order to succeed in school, and in life. One intervention study done by Pennsylvania State University (2010) with parents and high school students was to see the effects of student drinking in college if parents were involved in the decision making early on in high school. This study proved to show that students that took part in the study were less likely to find drinking in college interesting. These sorts of programs can lead to greater academic success in college students.

The amount of hours a person works a week is negatively correlated to an individual’s dependency to alcohol. The less hours a person works per week the more they will be dependent on alcohol. On average, the individuals in the sample worked a low amount of hours a week (M = 11.31, SD = 14.9) and had a moderately low dependency on alcohol (M = 31.11, SD = 14.26). In addition, the confidence intervals looking at the amount of hours worked per week indicated that the participants continued to work low hours (95% CI = [8.96, 13.83]). Along with, both the upper and lower bounds of the alcohol decency score showing reaming consistent with a modestly low dependency on alcohol (95% CI = [29.02, 33.58]).

functioning in comparison to children that came from a non alcoholic background (Johnson and Leff, “Affect and Behavior” section, par. 3).