Personality characteristics of adult children of alcoholics, other adults from dysfunctional families, and adults from nondysfunctional families.

This study used the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) to examine the personality characteristics of adult children of alcoholics. The sample was noncollege age adults (N = 174). Subjects responding to advertisements were grouped into Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA) (56%), Adults with Dysfunctional Family Histories (ADFH) (21%), or Adults without Identified Dysfunctional Family Histories (AIDFH) (23%). Results indicated that the ACOA group was different from the AIDFH group on nine of the 28 CPI scales, but there were no significant differences between the ACOA and ADFH groups. The validity of clinical impressions of ACOAs and the utility of considering ACOAs as a distinct field of study are discussed.