Post-traumatic stress syndrome among adult children of alcoholics
The literature on adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) is largely based on an implicit assumption that being reared by alcoholic parents is a traumatizing experience, yet this assumption had not been previously examined empirically. The current study was designed to integrate the existing descriptive analysis of the ACA population with theories of trauma and assessment methodologies developed to investigate traumatic effects. Thus, this study investigated whether adult children of alcoholics share features of their personalities with other adults who have experienced traumas. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to compare ACAs and a control group of non-ACAs on three measures of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) provided by the MMPI-2. The second purpose of this study was to explore with greater specificity which of several circumstances contribute most to PTSS among ACAs. The study investigated four areas of concern generated in the ACA literature: (a) the number and gender of alcoholic parents, (b) age at the onset of parental alcoholism, (c) the severity of parental alcoholism, and (d) the presence or absence of other traumatic events secondary to alcoholism. 335 participants were categorized as ACAs or non-ACAs according to their responses on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST). Both groups also completed the MMPI-2, which contains two scales which evaluate PTSS, and a questionnaire which detailed parental drinking behavior and other family circumstances. ACA and non-ACA PTSS scale scores were compared. Among the ACA group, PTSS scale scores were correlated with questionnaire data pertaining to each of the secondary research areas. The study found that PTSS was not significantly greater among ACAs than among the control group. The gender of the alcoholic parent was not statistically significant in producing PTSS in ACAs. Severe parental alcoholism also did not produce correspondingly high evidence of PTSS. There were trends in the findings which suggest that those ACAs whose parents have recently become alcoholics, or who are themselves denying or ambivalently identifying parental alcoholism are most susceptible to PTSS. The study found several factors which appear to contribute to PTSS symptomatology among ACAs. ACAs were most traumatized if their parents' alcoholism began during the ACA's pre-school years. Financial difficulties in the family, verbal abuse, and physical abuse were also correlated with PTSS symptoms. The single most significant contributor to PTSS symptoms among ACAs was physical abuse in the home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
https://www.upress.umn.edu/test-division/bibliography/2000-2009/2005/farrell_post-traumatic_2005
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Susan Farrell
(2005)
Post-traumatic stress syndrome among adult children of alcoholics
PhD thesis.