A consensus has been growing among researchers and clinicians alike that alcoholism is often best considered a familial problem. Two primary reasons for this viewpoint are first, that alcoholism and problem drinking are frequently clustered within certain families far beyond the ordinary base rate estimates for the problem and second, that the spread of pathology within affected families typically extends beyond the alcoholic and includes the spouse and children as well. Studies have shown that children of alcoholics are prone to a variety of social and developmental problems, with antisocial and aggressive behavior disorders being most prevalent. / Evidence linking antisocial behavior and excessive drinking among adults and adolescents has also accumulated recently, particularly within criminal justice settings. Research findings have indicated that the incidence of problem drinking and alcoholism typically ranges between 20 and 40% among offenders. Problem drinking offenders are also usually found to be more sociopathic and malajusted than non-problem drinking counterparts. / The present study was designed to assess further the effects of parental problem drinking on a cohort of approximately 1000 youthful offenders. The guiding hypothesis was that parental problem drinking would exist in a common cause relationship with inmate problem drinking and drug use, in addition to significantly poorer socialization in comparison with inmates whose parents were not reported to have a drinking problem. Also two intervening variables were examined to determine how they might modify the expected relationships within problem drinking families. These were "family cohesiveness," and "the socializing influence of the non-problem drinking parent." / The data for the study were gathered largely from a lengthy and wide-ranging interview with the inmates which included inquiries on their drinking habits, as well as those of their parents. Information from the Presentence Investigation and psychological test scores (MMPI, CPI) were also available for most subjects. / Although the results largely supported the common cause hypothesis, the magnitude of the findings was less than had been reported in previous studies, due no doubt, to the inherent limitations of self-report data, among other factors. According to pre-established criteria, inmate problem drinking was recorded at 18%, while some combination of inmate-reported, parental problem drinking approached 30%. There were almost four times as many problem drinking fathers as mothers. / Nevertheless, the more important associations between parental and inmate problem drinking were highly significant. Having one problem drinking parent nearly doubled the chances that the inmate would himself report a drinking problem, and two problem drinking parents increased the inmate's chances nearly three-fold. Inmate drug use was not significantly related to parental problem drinking, except for whites whose mothers were reported to be heavy drinkers. / Most measures of social and developmental pathology were also found to be related to parental problem drinking with school problems, age first in trouble, physical violence and socialization (CPI So) all reaching statistical significance. However, race differences complicated some of these findings, with blacks reporting much less drinking pathology (7.1% incidence) and somewhat less social deviance than whites. / The intervening variable analyses indicated that family cohesion and the socializing influence of the non-problem drinking parent were both adversely affected by parental problem drinking. In turn, relatively high cohesion in problem drinking families was associated with less social pathology in the inmate. The results also suggested that the relative socializing influence of the non-drinking parent made somewhat of a difference when the mother drank, but was inconsequential when the father was the drinker. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-05, Section: B, page: 1923. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74197 |
| Contributors | MIKITA, MICHAEL ROBERT., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 174 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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