Associations Between Parental Alcoholism and Adult Indicators of Internalized Maladjustment

UND Columbia Hall, 1370

Associations between parental alcoholism and various internalized indicators of maladjustment in adult children of alcoholics were examined. College students (N = 2,531) and respondents from the general population (N = 703) were surveyed. Several hypotheses were tested: (1) CAST scores will be positively associated with symptom severity; (2) Combined maternal and paternal alcoholism will be associated with the most severe maladjustment compared to ACAs from a single parent and/or non-ACAs; (3) Female ACAs will exhibit relatively more internalized symptoms compared to males; (4) Maternal alcoholism will be more strongly associated with internalized symptoms, particularly among female ACAs. Consistent with previous literature, the present study found mixed results regarding the relationship between differential gender effects on ACAs risk of various internalized maladjustment indicators; however, our results provide further evidence that ACAs, regardless of gender or ACA status, appear to be at increased risk of these various forms of maladjustment compared to non-ACAs.