Personality characteristics of children of alcoholics.

Abstract

This study compared the personality characteristics of late adolescent and young adult children ofalcoholics (COAs) with those of their peers and examined the extent to which personality differencesare gender specific and are related to the gender of the alcoholic parent. Specifically, data derivedfrom an alcohol survey of young college students (N = 860) were used to examine familial alcoholismand personality characteristics, including impulsiveness, self-depreciation, lack of tension, indepen-dence/autonomy, need for social support, directiveness, sociability, and other-directedness. Al-though COA respondents were similar to their peers on most personality measures, they were morelikely to report greater self-depreciation. This difference in self-depreciation between COAs and theirpeers was greater for women than men. Women with an alcoholic father were significantly morelikely than women with an alcoholic mother to report greater self-depreciation. Male COAs ratedthemselves significantly higher on autonomy than did their male peers, but the gender of the alcoholicparent had little effect on this variable.Concern about the effect of an alcoholic parent on his or herchildren has been frequently expressed by clinicians and by oth-ers in recent research literature. In a comprehensive review ofthe literature on children of alcoholics (COAs), Russell, Hen-derson, and Blume (1985) concluded that such children are ata particularly high risk for alcoholism and other emotional andbehavioral problems, including difficult social adjustment andsubstance abuse. They also cited studies in which COAs werefound to possess distinctive personality characteristics, includ-ing lower self-esteem and a more external locus of control. How-ever, it has also been suggested that COAs are more resilientthan previous studies have indicated (Werner, 1986).Yet, findings are limited and conclusions based on previousresearch must be qualified. First, the majority of studies onCOAs have utilized research designs biased toward families orchildren who seek treatment or who come to the attention ofthe health and legal systems, thus neglecting other COAs whomay not have behavioral, emotional, or substance-abuse prob-lems (El-Guebaly & Offord, 1977). Second, the predominantfocus on negative aspects of the COA experience has been criti-cized by researchers who suggest that growing up in an alcoholicfamily may encourage adaptive behaviors as well (El-Guebaly& Offord, 1977; Russell et al., 1985). Third, few studies havecompared the experiences of male and female COAs or haveexamined differences relating to the gender of the alcoholic par-ent, although some findings have revealed a greater impact foralcoholic fathers or have suggested that parental alcoholismmay affect sons and daughters differently (Russell et al., 1985).This study addresses these theoretical and methodological is-An earlier version of this article was presented at the National Coun-cil on Alcoholism Forum, San Francisco, April 1986. The authors grate-fully acknowledge the financial assistance of the Christopher D. Smith-ers Foundation i n this research.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to AlanBerkowitz, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York14456.sues by examining the following questions with respect to per-sonality characteristics: (a) Are there particular differences inthe personality characteristics of a nonclinical sample of self-identified COAs and their peers from nonalcoholic families? (b)Are differences in the personality characteristics of COAs andtheir peers gender specific? and (c) Is there a difference in theimpact of alcoholic fathers and alcoholic mothers on the person-alities of their children, and is there an interaction between thegender of the alcoholic parent and the child's gender that mayaffect personality development?Method