The Degree to Which Frequent Alcohol Consumption Can Affect offspring

The Degree to which Frequent Alcohol Consumption by a Parent can affect their Offspring

Christine Boyd

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Research Methods 361

Spring 2016

The Degree to which Frequent Alcohol Consumption by a Parent can affect their Offspring

Introduction

People who are addicted to alcohol or consume the substance excessively are at risk for a variety of health problems. Intentional injuries, unintentional injuries, liver disease, and neuropsychiatric disorders are just a few of the horrible outcomes caused by alcohol abuse. Excessive consumption of alcohol can even lead to death, as it’s the 3rd leading cause of premature deaths (Marinho et. al 2015). The addiction can also affect the way a family functions in a negative way. It can tear them apart, create feelings of mistrust, and put a lot of stress on family members (Choate 2015). The children of alcohol dependent parents especially feel these negative effects. It’s common for these children to have a declining school performance, exhibit behavioral problems, and constantly worry about their parents (Templeton 2014). With that said I ask: To what degree does the excessive consumption of alcohol by a parent affect their offspring?

A lot of the research related to this topic examines how likely is for children to develop alcoholism if their parents have it, or looks at how parental alcohol dependency affects a child’s self esteem (Slutske et al. 2008; Rangarajan 2008). Other studies relate to factors that cause alcoholism (Hill et al. 1997). There isn’t a lot of research relating to the emotional damage caused from constantly being around someone addicted to alcohol. There also isn’t much research on this topic that relates mental illnesses. The research that does relate to this mainly focuses on depression (Williams 1992; Lynskey et al. 1997), but fails to recognize the presence of obsessive compulsive disorder, dissociative identity disorder, eating disorders, and other mental illnesses. The remainder of this review will analyze the risk factors associated with excessive alcohol consumption, how alcohol affects people, and why people develop an alcohol dependency.

Literature Review

Risks Associated with Alcohol Consumption

People may not realize this, but they are taking a risk every time they drink alcohol. Alcohol impairs judgment, which can lead people to do dangerous things they wouldn’t do otherwise. This includes driving while intoxicated. Individuals tend to underestimate how intoxicated they are, which can cause them to do things that they should only be doing while sober (Almung et al. 2014). Drunk driving not only puts the driver at risk, it also puts hundreds of others at risk as well.  Binge drinking, or drinking five or more drinks in span of two hours, can potentially lead to drunk driving. This is because when people drink a lot in a short amount of time, they may not feel drunk until a while later. Someone may feel fine when they get in the car, but start to lose control while they’re on the road. On top of that, once someone becomes drunk the part of their brain that detects danger isn’t as responsive. This can lead to sexual assaults and violent fights (Ralston 2015).