One in 10 U.S. kids have alcoholic parent - study
More than one in 10 U.S. children live with an alcoholic parent and are at increased risk of developing a host of health problems of their own, according to a new government study released on Thursday.
Researchers at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) analyzed national survey data from 2005 through 2010 and found that, on average, 7.5 million children - about 10.5 percent of the country’s under-18 population - lived with a parent abusing alcohol during any given year.
Most of those kids - an average of 6.1 million each year - lived in two-parent households where one or both of the adults had a drinking disorder, the researchers found.
Of the 1.4 million children who lived in a single-parent home where the adult had a drinking issue, the overwhelming majority - 1.1 million - were in female-headed households, SAMHSA said.
The researchers said children living with alcoholics were at greater risk of suffering from a number of mental health problems, including depression and anxiety.
Lots of people live with a parent or caregiver who is an alcoholic or who drinks too much. Alcoholism has been around for centuries, yet no one has discovered an easy way to prevent it.
Alcohol can affect people’s health and also how they act. People who are drunk might be more aggressive or have mood swings. They may act in a way that is embarrassing to them or other people.
Alcoholism is a disease. Like any disease, it needs to be treated. Without professional help, a person with alcoholism will probably continue to drink and may even become worse over time.
Diseases like alcoholism are no one’s fault. Some people are more susceptible to wanting to drink too much. Scientists think it has to do with genetics, as well as things like family history, and life events.
The children were also more likely to be abused or neglected by their parents, more likely to have cognitive or language deficiencies, and four times more likely to develop alcohol problems of their own, the researchers said.
Why Does My Parent Drink?
Alcoholism is a disease. It is not as simple for the alcoholic to just stop drinking. You may have heard that all an alcoholic has to do is “stop drinking,” but it’s not that simple. The American Medical Association (AMA), the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the World Health Organization (WHO) all recognize that the compulsion to drink and the physical dependence associated with it is a disease. Without professional help, an alcoholic will probably continue to drink and become worse over time.
Some teens may think that drinking is a symptom of some other problem, one they may even have helped to create. A parent might be having a rough time at work or be out of work altogether. The parents may be having marital problems or financial problems or someone may be sick. Teens who believe they are part of the problem sometimes convince themselves that they can make things better by doing things such as working harder or moving out of the house. An alcoholic parent may perpetuate these feelings of blame by saying things like, “You’re driving me crazy!” or “I can’t take this anymore.” But whatever else you believe about alcoholism, know that this is true: your parent’s alcoholism is not your fault, no matter who suggests that it is. The problems are created by the alcoholic and continued by them - not you.
Alcoholics deny that anything is wrong. They will also lay the blame for their problems on others in their lives. They can become defensive and angry when confronted with their problem, or they can try to minimize it saying that they could stop whenever they wanted or that they drink to relax like everyone else.
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TeensAdvisor.com
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(Reuters)