Relationship functioning among adult children of alcoholics.

Research indicates that children of alcoholics (COAs) are at increased risk for a variety of negative outcomes, including substance abuse, antisocial behavior, mood disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety), academic underachievement, low self-esteem, and relational difficul-ties (e.g., Beesley and Stoltenberg, 2002; Chassin et al., 2002; Dawson, 2000; Harter, 2000; Jackson et al., 2000; Johnson and Leff, 1999). Perhaps one of the most common, yet controversial, claims made with regard to adult COAs (ACOAs) is that they experience significant difficulties with interpersonal functioning, particularly with the establishment and maintenance of intimate relationships (e.g., Larsen, 1985; Seixas and Youcha, 1985; Woititz, 1985), possibly because of the parenting practices of alcoholic parents. For example, Woititz (1985) has noted that alcoholic parents are often inconsistent with the affection they give their children, vacillating between demonstrations of love and warmth at certain times and rejection at other times. As a result, COAs learn from an early age not to trust people and experience persistent fears of abandonment. Thus, although ACOAs may desire love and intimacy, they are likely to be afraid that relationships in their adult lives will be as hurtful as their early relationships (Wood, 1987). These contentions about the occurrence and source of problems with intimate relationships in ACOAs are consistent with theoretical approaches to and empirical observations of the development of attachment in relationships. More specifically, attachment theory proposes that, through repeated interactions with the primary caregiver, children form internal representations or “working models” of both the self and of the attachment figure (Bowlby, 1969). Children who experience available and responsive attachment figures will likely develop expectations that they are worthy of love and support and that others are generally trustworthy and available (secure attachment). Alternatively, children who do not have responsive attachment figures will develop expectations that they are not worthy of the love and support of others and that people are generally unreliable and rejecting (insecure attachment). Moreover, several studies suggest that these working models of relationships between the infant and the caregiver are internalized early on, and that these working models result in differential patterns of specific representations regarding the self and others in their adult relationships (Belsky and Pensky, 1988; Ricks, 1985; Rutter, 1998). Several studies based on attachment theory have, in fact, found a greater proportion of insecure attachment styles among ACOAs, mirroring the findings with respect to infant COAs (Eiden et al., 2002; Eiden and Leonard, 1996). For instance, Latty-Mann (1991) examined the attachment styles of a convenience sample of college students and found that self-identified ACOAs fell into predominately insecure classification patterns whereas the control participants were more securely attached. Similarly, Held (1991) found that non-COAs most often identified with secure bonding patterns both in childhood relationships with parents and adult relationships, whereas ACOAs most often identified with insecure bonding patterns. Research also suggests that the adult attachment insecurity ACOAs experience is mediated, at least in part, by parenting behaviors (e.g., Beesley and Stoltenberg, 2002; Kelley et al., 2005). A few studies have also examined the relationship functioning of ACOAs more specifically. Parker and Harford (1988) used a representative sample of 1,772 adults in the United States to examine the impact of parental alcoholism on alcohol-related problems, marital disruption, and depressive symptoms in ACOAs. Their results showed that having a parental history of alcoholism placed both sons and daughters at risk for later divorce or separation. Domenico and Windle (1993) found increased marital conflict, decreased marital satisfaction, and decreased family cohesion among female ACOAs in a middle-aged community sample. Using the data from the National Survey of Families and Households, Watt (2002) reported that children raised in alcoholic families were less likely to marry, more likely to be unhappy in their marriage, and more likely to divorce, even after controlling for parental divorce. Thus, although there is some evidence suggesting that parental alcoholism is associated with insecure attachment patterns and relationship difficulties in adulthood, this research is limited in several ways. First, most research has focused on children of alcoholic fathers and relatively little is known about the impact of maternal alcoholism on relationships. The few studies that have examined the gender of the alcoholic parent suggest that there may be differential impacts of parental alcoholism on male versus female children, raising the important issue of considering the gender of the ACOA in conjunction with the gender of the alcoholic parent (e.g., Bradley and Schneider, 1990; Mutzell, 1995; Stout and Mintz, 1996). A further limitation is that most of the available studies have relied primarily on clinical rather than community samples. However, most individuals with alcohol-use disorders do not seek treatment, and such individuals are considerably different from those who are currently in treatment (Hingston et al., 1980, 1992; Vaillant, 1983). Of the studies that have used nonclinical samples, most are of college students, who may represent a more resilient subset of the ACOA population (Sher et al., 1991). In addition, some effects of parental alcoholism may not become apparent until the ACOA establishes a more committed relationship and/or becomes a parent himself/herself. Thus, studies of college-age ACOAs may underpredict risk and dysfunction and may also have limited generalizability to community samples of young adults (Senchak et al., 1995). In the current study, we used a longitudinal design to examine the impact of both maternal and paternal alcoholism on the attachment representations and relationship functioning of both husbands and wives over the early years of marriage, a critical developmental period (Huston and Houts, 1998). This study investigated the following research questions: Are there differences among ACOAs with an alcoholic mother, ACOAs with an alcoholic father, ACOAs with both an alcoholic mother and an alcoholic father, and non-COAs in terms of their (1) attachment representations, (2) marital satisfaction and marital intimacy, and (3) reports of psychological and physical aggression over the first 4 years of marriage? Because only a few studies have taken into account the gender of the alcoholic parent, and these studies did not examine the variables we are examining, only research questions (vs directional hypotheses) were posed in the current investigation.