This study sought to: (a) determine whether personal-growth orientation and hardiness mediated the relations of parental alcoholism and family functioning to psychological well-being and distress; (b) determine whether this model was invariant across men and women; and (c) examine the role of parental alcoholism in a model that included family…

Compared characteristics of female alcoholics receiving treatment with those of male alcoholics. Found male subjects had more psychosocial problems and had more contact with the child welfare authorities during their childhood than did the females. However, the females' offspring had had more such contact than the males' offspring. Socioeconomic…

Nonclinical, adolescent children of alcoholics and their peers from nonalcoholic families (total n=231) responded to questionnaires of environmental variables, depression, and anxiety. Although two groups differed on measures of anxiety and depression, environmental stressors contributed most to discriminant function that differentiated between…

Examined 547 college students' adjustment. Results indicated significant main effects for gender but not for alcoholic parentage. Gender differences occurred for alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and other problems. Findings suggested that, in terms of adjustment, college students from alcoholic homes should not be distinguished from the general…

A 15-year study examined the lives of male alcoholic inpatients and their children. Found differences in social adjustment and health status between the children of alcoholics and the control children. These children also required greater social assistance, particularly those in homes where alcohol and drug use combined. Boys were more vulnerable…

Compared the personality characteristics of late adolescent and young adult children of alcoholics (COAs) with those of their peers, examining gender specificity in personality differences. COA respondents, particularly women, and especially women with alcoholic fathers, were more likely to report greater self-depreciation. Male COAs rated…

Examined the subsequent life and development of teenagers under probation who abused alcohol and drugs. Suggests that regardless of the social environment in which they grow up, children, both boys and girls, are in a risk zone if they use alcohol and drugs, and there is an enormous gap in their social adjustment compared with children that do…