Do Childrens of Alcoholics Have Adjustment Problems - Research Paper Example

Alcoholism and its effects on Society Do Children’s of Alcoholics have Adjustment Problems? Introduction All throughout history Alcohol has been used for various purposes. It has been utilized as anesthetic, social situations and stimulant. However its use becomes a problem when one becomes alcohol dependent or suffers from alcohol abuse. As per the Medical Encyclopedia alcoholism is such an illness that is marked by consuming alcoholic beverages at a level that interferes with the mental health, physical health, social, occupational, and family responsibilities. Dependence on alcohol is generally a serious medical problem as it can effect and can cause various symptoms and sometimes even death. Social problems are always created for an individual and people surrounding him as alcoholics frequently get into trouble with law, destroy their interpersonal relationships, end up in debt, cause deaths due to driving under its influence and as they cannot hold down a job or complete their education. Research Objectives The extrapolation derived from the data on drinking practices from the surveys of household probability suggest that there are nearly 29 million children of alcoholic patents and an anticipated 22 million of them are either 18 years of age or older and nearly 6.6 million are below the age of 18 years. Regrettably, even though it is a known fact that this magnitude of population and the possibility of these individuals of suffering from a variety of problems, a well controlled research is not yet done. Along with descriptive epidemiological investigation a range of other forms of studies are needed. A systematically sound research can offer groundwork for the enhancement of early intervention and effective preventive programs to eradicate the potential adverse effects of alcoholism. Research Findings Even though the children of alcoholic parents are at a higher risk for alcoholism, it should be observed that a huge percentage of these children do not necessarily develop this disorder. Different patterns of alcoholism are suggested by research both with a high environmental risk and genetic vulnerability. It is likely that some individual with high risk do not develop alcoholism they may employ coping mechanisms. Multiple coping mechanisms are clinically observed in these children and many of them grow up to be free from psychopathology or alcoholism. These studies of coping mechanism are employed by the resistant individuals that may have special value for prevention and treatment programs. Concerning the children of alcoholics the clinical reports have described a range of psychological impairments that have been experienced by them in addition to drug abuse or alcohol. The psychological problems that have been observed have included the presence of both minor and major types of impaired self-esteem, reality testing, vocational and impaired academic performance and susceptibility to a number of acting out behaviors including running away and delinquency. The majority of these studies were limited to assessing the children who were getting treatment of the problems or those whose parents were being cured for alcoholism. To examine the children of alcoholics a broader spectrum of research is needed. The study that compares non COA’s and the COA’s suggest that even though both the groups differ in a wide range of psychosocial aspect, the differences in the cognitive performance are observed frequently. The cognitive function in the children of alcoholics have been examined by researchers as it is significant factor require for adaptation at all the stages of development. This can be evaluated uniformly across the stages of development and is associated with symptoms of alcoholism. In the book Alcoholic fathering and its relation to child’s intellectual development: A pilot investigation, the author Ervin and Et al have analyzed that the full IQ performance and the verbal score are lower among the sample of children those are raised by alcoholic parents than those raised by non alcoholic parents (Ervin, C.S.; and Et.Al 1984). Similarly Bennett and Et al in the American journal of psychiatry have founded that children who came from alcoholic families have lower IQ, verbal, arithmetic and reading scores. Although the COAs had scored low they performed within the normal range for intelligence test in each of the studies. It is an essential aspect to consider that cognitive competence can change with the instrument utilized to measure the performance as well as the individual who are analyzing the function. However, it is noted that the children of the alcoholic parents underestimate their competence (Bennett, L.A 1988). Moreover the alcoholic mothers have underestimated the abilities of their children. This perception is likely to affect the self esteem, motivation and future performance of the children. The school going children of the alcoholic parent have academic problems. Their academic performance can be measured than their IQ to better understand the effect of living with alcoholic parents. It is indicated it the school records that these children have academic difficulties such as failing to graduate from high school, repeating grades and need referral to the school psychologists (Miller, D 1977 and Knop, J 1985). In the children of alcoholic parents though cognitive deficits may account for some part of their poor academic records , the stress and motivational difficulties of the home environment may also contribute to their problems in school. As per the study the children of parental alcoholism also suffer from numerous psychological disorders. Parental anxiety, divorce, undesirable change in the life situation or families can further add to the negative effects of the parental alcoholism on the emotional functioning of the children. Several studies have proved that children from alcoholic families report a higher level of anxiety and depression and exhibit more symptoms of low self esteem than the children of non-alcoholic families (Schuckit, 1982 and Knop, J 1985). Protective Aspects Many of these children have protective aspect that serve as prevention. If the non alcoholic parents perform despite stressful environment, the children can be healthy. It is proved by research that if the children of alcoholics are educated about the risk involved in drinking they drink less as compared to the people who are aware of the risk status. The child can be supported by the parent emotionally by way of education. That is alcoholism is a disease and it is not the child’s fault and someone cannot be forced to stop drinking. The parents who function higher can involve themselves into support group that represents proactive behavior than helplessness and investigate alternative to repeat solutions that do not work. Such parents will also learn to let the addicted person to countenance the consequences. If there is violence and study of family violence involve high rate of alcohol or such other drug involvement, these parents will move for separation. Preserving consistency by indulging in important family activities such as holidays, vacation or mealtimes will go in a long way to protect the alcoholic families. It has been stated by adult children of alcoholics that other adults have made a difference in their lives. They may be teacher, coach, and parent of a friend, neighbor or grandparents. For the COAs their problems may not have been ever discussed at home, hence, for them even a little encouragement and concern does matter. For many of the children religious observance has been a very protective factor. The COAs are at an increased risk of somewhere in between 2 to 10 times more likely to develop school failure, alcoholism and delinquency. Depression and Anxiety may be expressed by bed wetting, crying, and withdrawal, having nightmares or being afraid to go to school. The older youths tend to stay in their room for longer periods of time and not mingle with other children of their age. The teenagers may show depressive indication by being perfectionist, withdrawing, hoarding exhibiting phobias and being excessively self-conscious. The Research has establish that it not homogeneous populace as alcoholic parent are not all similar. The studies have proved that alcoholic’s psychopathology is significant in visualizing problems for their relatives. The disorders can have environmental and genetic impact on the children of alcoholic parents. Majority of the alcoholics suffer from personality disorder and as they recover have no problems (Stephanie Abbott.). Conclusion According to the study majority of the children of alcoholic parents have evident lower esteem problems and also have adjustment problems as compared to the COAs. The two groups of the respondents were compared on key variables of socio-demographic and alcoholism of the father, the subjects of study group was a major differentiating aspect between the two. This study signifies that vitiated and stressful domestic environment prevalent in alcohol complicated family relationships is responsible for deficient adjustment and low self-esteem observed in the adolescent children of the alcoholics. Therefore, there is an imperative requirement for restorative intervention with such people. It is necessary that programs are developed for the COAs concentrating strongly on reinforcement resilience and so as to inculcate enviable personality traits and through appropriate psychotherapeutic procedures improve their psychosocial functioning. Due to various deficits in the psychological functioning manifested in the children of alcoholics, it has been underscored by the study the point that inter-reliant COAs merit therapeutic intervention. Therefore, intervention with the children of alcoholics should involve resolution of problems pertaining to the adolescence along with parental alcoholism. Fundamentals to improve their self esteem and adjustment across various spheres need to be deliberately included in addition involve them in family therapy sessions. Fortifying family bonds and strengthening social support systems of COAs besides facilitating their involvement in self help groups and encompass other COAs could go a long way in improving their mental health. Such efforts need to be simultaneously initiated along with other therapeutic measures that focus on the alcoholic (Stanley S. and Vanitha C.  2008). Reference Ervin, C.S. Et.Al. Alcoholic fathering and its relation to childs intellectual development: A pilot investigation. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 8(4):362- 365, 1984. Bennett, L.A.; Wolin, S.J.; and Reiss, D. Cognitive, behavioral, and emotional problems among school-age children of alcoholic parents. American Journal of Psychiatry 145(2):185-190, 1988. Miller, D., & Jang, M. Children of alcoholics: A 20-year longitudinal study. Social Work Research & Abstracts 13:23-29, 1977. Schuckit, M.A., & Chiles, J.A. Family history as a diagnostic aid in two samples of adolescents. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 166(3):165-176, 1978. (13) Moos, R.H., & Billings, A.G. Children of alcoholics during the recovery process: Alcoholic and matched control families. Addictive Behaviors 7:155-163, 1982 Knop, J.; Teasdale, T.W.; Schulsinger, F.; and Goodwin D.W. A prospective study of young men at high risk for alcoholism: School behavior and achievement. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 46(4):273-278, 1985 Stanley S. and Vanitha C.  (2008). Psychosocial Correlates in Adolescent Children of Alcoholics-Implications for Intervention. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation. 12 (2), 67-80 Stephanie Abbott. National Association of Children for Alcoholics. Prevention for Children of Alcoholics. Retrieved on March 31st 2009 from http://www.nacoa.net/prev4coas.htm Read More