Family Stress In Children With Alcoholic Parents

No one knows exactly why people behave the way that they do. In regards to alcohol abuse, research has found that alcoholism may run in families. Being an alcoholic is one thing, but letting the effects of alcoholism affect the lives of others is another. Researchers have found that often time’s children with alcoholic parents are negatively affected on a mental, physical, and emotional level. There are numerous different disorders that affect children and are related to their parents’ alcohol intake. The research done in this study focuses on the cause and effect relationship alcoholic parents have on their children. Past research reveals that children with alcoholic parents are more likely to struggle with anxiety disorders, panic disorder,
social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This subject is a very interesting topic. Today, society has high fines and strict penalties for D.U.I. offenders. However, the law does not serve America’s youth much justice when it comes to monitoring the alcohol intake of primary caregivers. Many times alcohol indirectly affects children, and therefore the detrimental effects go unnoticed. It is often thought, that only the individual with the alcohol problem suffers. In reality, everyone in an alcoholic’s life may suffer, including the offspring. It is important to understand the effects of alcoholism and to educate those coping with the disease on how to change their lifestyle. No child deserves to suffer unjustly and alcoholism is, unfortunately, often times a silent predator.

In a past study, research has aimed to investigate the combined effects of parent alcoholism and offspring attention deficit hyperacidity disorder (ADHD) on offspring substance use.
The researchers propose an explanation for the effects of parent alcoholism on family stress in children with ADHD. They propose that children with ADHD may lack adaptive coping strategies, which result to high levels of perceived stress and may be more likely to experience family conflict and related stress. (Fischer, 2000) . Another study concluded that exposure to familial alcoholism has been associated with many behavioral and emotional difficulties among offspring. However, this study focused on environmental risks that often coexist with familial alcoholism and can also influence the development of offspring. Many times, people overlook these underlying aspects that aid in shaping ones life. This study examined other factors (besides familial alcoholism) that may come into play such as childhood exposure to family violence and childhood exposure to alcoholism during adolescence. Three domains of cognitive functioning were examined in a community sample of 109 families. A) lifetime levels of substance use. B) conduct disorder behaviors C) self-esteem. Results indicated that childhood exposure to alcoholism was associated with psychosocial functioning of offspring. (Ritter,
2002).
In one study, researchers formed two groups.
A) Children with an alcoholic parent and B) Children with a Non- alcoholic parent. They found that there was a clear difference between the two. They differed in the child’s self image, emotionality, educational goals, family relationships, ideas about sex, anxiety, aggression and depression just to name a few. (Tomori, 1994) This subject is multi-faceted and very intriguing. It is a cause that is prominent in the lives of millions of children across the United States. Unfortunately, the voices of those who live with familial alcoholism often go unheard, and it is very important to inform people of just how prominent alcohol abuse is in the lives of not only the alcoholic, but everyone around them including their offspring. It is predicted that children with alcoholic parents are more likely to suffer from psychological disorders during the span of a lifetime than children with non- alcoholic
parents.

Method

The independent variable would be alcoholic parents. The fact that a parent was an alcoholic would be based on if they allowed alcohol to negatively affect the people in their lives on a regular basis. Independent variable manipulation or manipulation of psychological disorders is next to impossible in a within-subject design. It would be unethical to physically give someone brain damage, the effects would be detrimental to the participant. To properly test the hypothesis it is necessary to use between-subject design. The dependent measure would be children with alcoholic parents. Again it is nearly impossible to make someone an alcoholic, and then make them a non-alcoholic. It would be unethical to for someone to drink until they became an alcoholic, and if you made an alcoholic sober, the effects that they had on their offspring would already be set in motion. Extraneous variables may be: How severe the alcoholism is, how the alcoholic-parent acts around their offspring, the other parent or lack there of, financial situation. To control confounding variables it is necessary to match the groups as closely as possible. Ethical concerns may arise in confidentiality. Because of lack of funding, and ability to produce professional means of attaining people with alcoholic parents, personal friends and volunteers would have to be the participants. They would be selected based on the common fact that they are acquaintances and they agree to participate in the study. There would be a total of 20 participants between the ages of 18 and 28. Ten participants would have alcoholic parents. Ten participants would have non-alcoholic parents. The characteristics used to match the subjects would be age, gender and gender of alcoholic parent. Materials used in the study would be a questionnaire. The survey would be conducted with a questionnaire of 200 multiple choice and open ended questions. They would address the persons childhood, medical history, and feelings toward their parents. Questions about the independent variable would inquire about their parents drinking habits and how they felt about their drinking. Questions about he dependent variable would inquire about any specific medical concerns they have or had, how they felt there parents actions helped or hurt them. During the study, participants were asked to sit in a comfortable secluded area with the questionnaire. They were told that their opinions and answers would remain anonymous. They were instructed to answer the questions honestly and add anything they would like to share anywhere on the page. Previous top administering the survey, a consent form would be required to be signed by all participants. The results of the study in a statistic manor would be published.