NCJ Number
124892
Journal
British Journal of Addiction Volume: 85 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 779-794
Date Published
1990
Length
16 pages
Annotation
One hundred and seventy 16 to 35 year-old offspring of parents with drinking problems and 80 comparison young adults were recruited from a variety of clinical and community sources.
Abstract
Each was interviewed at length using a semi-structured interview and 86 percent were re-interviewed one year later. No between-group differences were found in current quality of alcohol consumption nor in percentages who had ever used or were currently using illicit or prescribed drugs. However, larger numbers of offspring had commenced alcohol use in their early teens and had used other drugs in their later teens, and more offspring than comparisons were currently using alcohol in a risky way, more were using illicit drugs more than occasionally, and more were heavy smokers. These differences were not great, and gender and source of recruitment (clinical versus community) were equally important predictor variables. Analyses conducted within the offspring group offered no support for hypotheses linking adult risk factors with years of exposure, severity of childhood effects and experiences, maternal as opposed to paternal problems, or problems in the same sex parent. However, some support was found for the importance of having two parents with drinking problems and having had a drinking parent who often drank at home. 7 tables, 1 figure, 41 references. (Author abstract)