Behavioral disorders in children with parental alcoholism.

The influence of parental alcoholism on the personalities of the children was studied by use of the Devereux Rating Scales to delineate problem behavior patterns. The subjects for the investigation were identified as a result of their parents being in treatment for alcoholism, and a control group matched for age, sex, race, family size, and socioeconomic status was utilized. The findings suggest that the presence of parental alcoholism acts as a serious deterrent to healthy personality development in the children, and the degree of disturbance in these individuals might be greater than previously suspected. Several implications of these observations are discussed, including the importance of considering alcohol abuse as a total family problem.