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Adult Children of Problem Drinkers in an Urban Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nady A. El-Guebaly ,
John R. Walker ,
Colin A. Ross  and
Raymond F. Currie
Nady A. El-Guebaly*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Canada
John R. Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba
Colin A. Ross
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba
Raymond F. Currie
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba
*
∗Department of Psychiatry, Foothills Hospital, 1403–29 Street, NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 2T9.
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Abstract

In a medium-sized Canadian city, 581 randomly selected households were contacted and responded to a survey on the impact of parental alcohol problems. Twenty-two per cent of the respondents indicated that at least one of their parents had a drinking problem. The biological father was affected in 81%. Compared with the rest of the sample, the adult children of problem drinkers were younger but they did not differ in income or education. Adult children of problem drinkers were more likely to have parents who were divorced or separated; to be divorced, separated, or remarried themselves; to be heavy drinkers and have indications of alcohol problems; and to use more sources of help for problems with stress and anxiety and problems with alcohol. They did not differ from those without parental drinking problems on measures of current positive and negative affect.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 156 , Issue 2 , February 1990 , pp. 249 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990

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Footnotes

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Montreal, 12 May 1988.

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