« Binge Drinking Laws across the US

Tweet

Alcoholic Parents Lead to Alcohol Abuse in Kids

August 5, 2010
Author: Chris M. Alexander

Parents play a very important role in their children’s development. Most kids look up to their parents for guidance and as role models. So, parents who use alcohol and even drugs, place their children at increased risk for substance abuse as well as for psychological problems as they get older.

Genetic and Environmental Factors

Alcoholism tends to run in families and is the main factor that leads to alcohol abuse in young children. Even though both genetic and society affect a child’s development and may increase risk for future alcohol use, alcohol abuse starts at home and usually alcoholic parents tends to lead to alcohol abuse in children. Societal and environmental factors may include peer pressure and alcohol advertisements which appeals to today’s youths.

Many families have been ruined by alcoholism. If you do not want your family to suffer the same fate, entering alcohol abuse rehab programs if you habitually drink in excess is the best way to prevent that from happening.

The Unborn Child

Research show that even during pregnancy, parental alcoholism may affect the fetus even before a child is born. Drinking alcohol in pregnancy, is said to be carried to all of the mother’s organs and tissues and when a pregnant woman consumes any type of alcoholic beverage, the concentration of alcohol in her unborn baby’s bloodstream is also the same level as her own. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, about 5000 babies are born each year with severe damage caused by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), another 35000 babies are born with more mild forms of FAS.

Following in the Footsteps of alcoholic Parents

Even though, not all children of alcoholic parents are adversely affected. An overwhelming number of evidence has shown that alcohol dependence runs in families. So, children of alcoholic parents can often time find themselves following in their parents’ footsteps and may inherit one or more of the following physical problems due to alcohol abuse:

• Cardiovascular complications
• Endocrine problems
• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Immunologic deficiency
• Neurological problems
• Obstetric problems
• Psychiatric disorders
• Withdrawal symptoms

Effects on Children When Seeing Their Parents Drink Alcohol

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) children who witness their parents drinking are more likely to view drinking as harmless, and they too start drinking and at an earlier age. Due to this, there is an increased risk that kids will begin to misuse alcohol by the time they reach age 17 to 18.

Shaping the Child’s Drinking Behavior

Alcohol dependent parents’ play a very important role in shaping their child’s drinking behavior. Parental influences such as the parent-child relationship and the family environment will also positively or negatively affect the child’s outlook on drinking alcohol.

Parents who abuse alcohol damage the lives of millions of children in all areas of society and in all social classes. It ruins the lives of countless families and damages the development of children who have to carry the burden of their parents drinking problems with them for the rest of their lives – True or False? We’d like to hear what you think.

Tags: Alcohol Abuse, Parental Guidance

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 2:11 am and is filed under Alcohol Abuse . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.