An ounce of prevention for children of alcoholics

It has long been known that an alcoholic parent can have a serious effect on his or her children. The emotional problems experienced by a child of an alcoholic will often manifest as behavioral problems, which may actually compound the child’s already low feelings of self-worth and lack of self-esteem. The child of an alcoholic may display disruptive behavior and get into trouble at school, but, underneath that disruptive behavior is a reservoir of feelings that need to be addressed for the child to get the help he or she needs.

A recent study at the Research Institute on Addictions of the State University of New York took a look at the link between a child’s externalizing behavior problems in kindergarten and parental alcoholism. A sample of children, 130 with alcoholic parents and 97 with nonalcoholic parents, were compared. It was predicted that alcoholism would have an effect on parental warmth/sensitivity, and this effect would in turn affect the child’s expression of antisocial behavior.

The study showed that, if a child’s parent was diagnosed with alcoholism when the child was 12-18 months old, they experienced lower maternal and paternal warmth/sensitivity at 2 years of age. This was associated with lower child self-regulation at 3 years of age, meaning that the child displayed less effortful control and internalization of rules. This lower self-regulation then predicted that the child would show greater externalizing behavior problems in kindergarten.

What does this all mean? It means that, for children who display behavioral problems in kindergarten, they might be living in an alcoholic household. Disciplinary action against the child at school may, in fact, compound the problem, further alienating the child and causing him or her to internalize feelings of guilt, self-disgust, anxiety, loneliness, and mistrust to an even greater degree. This study also shed light on a need for more comprehensive behavioral modification and alcoholism education for children in early elementary school.

Most alcohol education programs don’t begin until middle or high school. These education programs are geared more toward drinking prevention and rarely educate children about alcoholism, how to deal with alcoholic parents, or how to handle their own drinking problems.

Essentially, these programs focus on scare tactics, or, “Don’t drink—it’s bad!” This model hasn’t worked, and one reason may be that children of alcoholics are four times more likely than other children to become alcoholics themselves. With no knowledge about their situation, children of alcoholics are ill-equipped to deal with their feelings about their parents’ drinking, and, by middle school or high school, problems may have already set in to such a degree that the child refuses to seek the help they need.

Preliminary programs for children in early elementary school have shown that these children can be educated about alcoholism and its effects with success. For the child of an alcoholic, learning that their mother’s or father’s alcoholism is not their fault, that they are not the only one with an alcoholic parent, that alcoholism is a disease, and that they can take care of themselves even if their parent is still drinking can reverse some of the effects of parental alcoholism on even a very young child.

These alcoholism education programs can also reduce the risk of future behavioral or alcohol problems in children of alcoholics, something that appears to be an issue in children as young as three years.

The most important thing to remember when dealing with behavioral problems in very young children is that they are, most often, a sign of problems at home, and school counselors may want to explore appropriate and effective ways of handling a child’s emotional problems as a way of dealing with behavioral problems.

© Copyright 2007 Insight Journal Online Magazine.

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