Children of alcoholics: A review of the literature

There are twenty-eight to thirty-four million children of alcoholics in the United States (Black, 1981; Edwards and Zander, 1985). Of these, twelve to fifteen million are currently living in alcoholic homes (Black, 1982). Children of alcoholics are three to four times more likely to become alcoholics themselves and half will marry an alcoholic (Parker, 1986). Studies have shown that alcoholism is involved in up to ninety percent of child abuse and neglect cases (Newlon and Furrow, 1986). Alcoholism is seen, then, as a source of distress for millions of Americans and a major problem facing society today. Children of alcoholics grow up in an environment in which family life is inconsistent, unpredictable, arbitrary, and chaotic (Bowden and Gravitz, 1985). They grow up being influenced by their parents and live in a world of fear (Harold, 1981). Kritsberg (1985), found that growing up in an alcoholic family can be like a series of trauma/shock/repressions. Many children of alcoholics suffer from chronic shock as a result of the inability of the family to effectively resolve the traumatic shock experience