Do daughters of female alcoholics have more problems during childhood and adolescence than sons?

171 female alcoholic inpatients living in Stockholm were examined and found to fulfil the alcoholism criteria of DSM-III-R. They comprised 171 women consecutively admitted to the Karolinska Alcohol Clinic and staying at least one week for treatment. The examination included a general medical examination, a psychiatric and social history, blood tests and ECG. The subjects' and their families' possibilities of creating a good upbringing environment for their children and their own childhood were studied.

The alcoholics and their offspring were followed from the registers of the child welfare committees, temperance boards, social service departments, the Social Insurance Office and the Medical Information System of the Medical Services Board of Stockholm County Council.

The children of the female alcoholics had, during their childhood, often had contact with an educational welfare officer, a psychologist or a physician for various problems and were also registered in the children's welfare committee registers. 29% of the female alcoholics themselves had been fostered by their biological mother alone or by grandparents until 16 years of age. 51% of the women had an alcohol-abusing mother and father during childhood. Signs of social maladjustment and having been under the care of a child welfare committee were recorded in 20% and 12% of the women.

Among the children, we found that the boys were more vulnerable during their adolescence than the girls and that there were also major similarities in the social situation for these children of alcoholic women. The indications were that there is also a vulnerable group among girls who develop high consumption of alcohol and simultaneous drug abuse during their teens. Forty five per cent of the girls and 60% of the boys among the female alcoholics' children had school problems and were also in contact with an educational welfare officer, psychologist or physician for various problems. Scrutiny of the Children's Welfare Committee Register showed 60% of the sons and 40% of the daughters were registered. Forty five per cent of the boys and 30% of the girls were registered by the Temperance Board. Forty per cent of the boys and 25% of the girls were registered in the Criminal Offenders Register. Forty five per cent of the boys and 30% of the girls had had hospital treatment on at least one occasion for underlying physical illness or injury. The most common reason for establishing contact with children's psychiatric outpatient clinics or counselling clinics was recommendation and investigation necessitated by supportive measures and school adjustment problems.

It is concluded that female alcoholics resemble male alcoholics and that these females have a disturbed childhood and often have an alcohol and drug-abusing parent, nervous problems in the parents, attempted suicide by a parent and serious schisms in the family and that especially the boys from these female alcoholics' families are extremely vulnerable and they have a more traumatic childhood than the girls, but both of them fare ill.     

Brain damage and neuropsyochological impairment in female and male alcoholics and implications for their offspring

Matched pairs of 40 male and 40 female alcoholic inpatients living in Stockholm were examined and found to fulfill the alcoholism criteria of DSM-III-R. They comprised 40 matched pairs of men and women consecutively admitted to the Karolinska Alcohol Clinic and staying at least one week for treatment. The examination included a general medical examination, a psychiatric and social history, blood tests, ECG, computed tomography of the brain and neuropsychological testing. The subjects' and their families' possibilities of creating a good upbringing environment and their own and their children's childhood were studied.

The alcoholics and their offspring were followed from the registers of the child welfare committees, temperance boards, social service departments, the Social Insurance Office and the Medical Information System of the Medical Services Board of Stockholm County Council.

The children of the female alcoholics had, during their childhood, more often had contact with an educational welfare officer, a psychologist or a physician for various problems and also had a significantly higher rate of registration in the children's welfare committee registers than children of male alcoholics. The male alcoholics more often came from broken homes. 29% of the female and 32% of the male alcoholics had been fostered by their biological mother alone or by grandparents until 16 years of age. 51% of the women and 39% of the men had an alcohol-abusing mother and father during childhood. Signs of social maladjustment and having been under the care of a child welfare committee were recorded in 32% and 24% respectively of the male alcoholics and 20% and 12% of the females.

62% of the male alcoholics and 30% of the females showed cortical atrophy. Signs of neuropsychological impairment were present in 35% of the females but only 16% of the males.

It is concluded that female and male alcoholics resemble each other and that they both have a disturbed childhood and that female alcoholics more often have an alcohol and drug-abusing parent, nervous problems in the parents, attempted suicide by a parent and serious schisms in the family than male alcoholics.     

Alcoholism in women

171 male and 171 female alcoholic inpatients living in Stockholm were examined and found to fulfill the alcoholism criteria of DSM-III-R. They comprised 171 matched pairs of men and women consecutively admitted to the Karolinska Alcohol Clinic and staying at least one week for treatment. The examination included a general medical examination, a psychiatric and social history, blood tests, ECG, computed tomography of the brain and neuropsychological testing. The subjects' and their families' possibilities of creating a good upbringing environment and their own childhood were studied. The alcoholics and their offspring were followed from the registers of the child welfare committees, temperance boards, social service departments, the Social Insurance Office and the Medical Information System of the Medical Services Board of Stockholm County Council.

The children of the female alcoholics had, during their childhood, more often had contact with an educational welfare officer, a psychologist or a physician for various problems and also had a significantly higher rate of registration in the children's welfare committee registers than children of male alcoholics. The male alcoholics more often came from broken homes. 29% of the female and 32% of the male alcoholics had been fostered by their biological mother alone or by grandparents until 16 years of age. 51% of the woman and 39% of the men had an alcohol-abusing mother and father during childhood. No fewer than 35% of the women and 58% of the men had a history of one or more of the following during childhood: nail-biting, headache, nightmares, gastritis, anxiety, obsession, somnambulism, stammering and being bullied. Signs of early social maladjustment are repeated truancy, running away from home, shop-lifting and thinner-sniffing during adolescence. Signs of social maladjustment and having been under the care of a child welfare committee were recorded in 32% and 24% respectively of the male alcoholics and 20% and 12% of the females. Those in-patients who showed signs of early social maladjustment had more often also had nervous problems during childhood.

It is concluded that female and male alcoholics resemble each other and that they both have a disturbed childhood and that female alcoholics more often have an alcohol and drug-abusing parent, nervous problems in the parents, attempted suicide by a parent and serious schisms in the family than male alcoholics.     

Are children of alcoholic mothers more psychologically damaged compared with children of mothers from the general population?

Matched pairs of 40 women from the general population and 40 female alcoholic inpatients living in Stockholm were examined and found to fulfil the alcoholism criteria of DSM-III-R. They comprised 40 inpatient women consecutively admitted to an Alcohol Clinic and staying at least one week for treatment. The examination included a general medical examination, a psychiatric and social history, blood tests, ECG, computed tomography of the brain and neuropsychological testing.

The aim of the study was to determine if children of alcoholic mothers were more psychologically damaged compared with children of mothers from the general population. The subjects' and their families' possibilities of creating a good upbringing environment and their own childhood were studied.

The female alcoholics and the women from the general population and their offspring were followed from the registers of the child welfare committees, temperance boards, social service departments, the Social Insurance Office and the Medical Information System of the Medical Services Board of Stockholm County Council. The children of the female alcoholics had, during their childhood, more often had contact with an educational welfare officer, a psychologist or a physician for various problems and also had a significantly higher rate of registration in the childrens welfare committee registers than children of women from the general population.

Fourteen per cent of the boys and 6% of the girls in the group from the general population and 35% of the sons and 20% of the daughters of the female alcoholics were registered by the Temperance Board. Eighteen per cent of the boys and 0% of the girls from the general population and 40% of the sons and 25% of the daughters of the female alcoholics were registered in the Criminal Offenders Register. No girl in the group from the general population was registered in the Criminal Offenders Register. Of the girls with an alcoholic home background, 25% were registered and all these had been sentenced to fines. Eight per cent of the children from the general population and 40% of the sons and 25% of the daughters of the female alcoholic inpatients had had hospital treatment on at least one occasion for underlying physical illness or injury. Eight per cent of the children in the general population and 40% of the sons and 25% of the daughters of alcoholic women were registered at children's psychiatric wards and outpatient clinics and counselling clinics. None of the children of the women of the general population, but 30% of the sons and 20% of the daughters of the female alcoholics abused alcohol or drugs. It was concluded that children of female alcoholics have a more psychologically disturbed childhood than children of women from the general population.     

Mixed abuse of alcohol and drugs in teenagers in Sweden vs a group from the general population

We compared the subsequent life and development of 182 teenagers (the controls) from the general population and 345 teenagers of the same ages (the probands) who were taken care of by the Social Service Department, all of them from Greater Stockholm. All of the probands but none of the controls abused alcohol and drugs, and the probands had more psychosocial problems than the controls. The probands had grown up in families with more abuse of alcohol and drugs, broken homes, an alcohol-abusing father and mother and had taken up their parents' concomitant drug and alcohol abuse by parental influences. There were differences in social adjustment and health status between the probands compared with the controls. Social assistance was required to a much greater extent by the probands and they were registered in the Temperance Register and the Criminal Offenders Register and were in contact with the child welfare authorities more often than the controls. The proband children were also registered for sick-leave more often than the boys and girls from the general population and accounted for a larger number of visits to the wards and outpatient clinics for somatic symptoms and to psychiatric clinics and wards. The two groups of boys and girls of the probands were like “twin” groups in that they were almost equally often involved in crimes with drugs and their social maladjustment and health status resembled each other.     

Mortality, suicide, social maladjustment and criminality among male alcoholic parents and men from the general population and their offspring

In a 15-year longitudinal prospective examination of the subsequent life and development of parents and children of 211 male alcoholic inpatients (the probands), we compared them with a simple random sample of 200 men from Greater Stockholm (the controls) and their children. The group of male alcoholic inpatients and the random sample were subdivided with respect to alcohol consumption and use of hepatotoxic drugs: (IA) men from the random sample with low or moderate alcohol consumption and no use of drugs (n= 169); (IB) men from the random sample with low or moderate alcohol consumption with use of drugs (n= 31); (MA) alcoholic inpatients with use of alcohol but no drugs #obn =171); (MB) alcoholic inpatients with use of alcohol and drugs (n =40). Groups IB and IIB had more psychosocial problems than the men of the other groups. They had grown up in families with more abuse of alcohol and drugs, an alcohol-abusing father and mother and had taken up their parents' concomitant drug and alcohol abuse by parental influences. There were differences in social adjustment and health status between the children from alcoholic homes and the control children. Social assistance was required to a greater extent by the proband groups and especially those from group IIB and the control children from group IB, who were registered in the Temperance Register and the Criminal Offenders Register and with the child welfare authorities more often than the control children of group IA. The proband children and the children of group IB were also registerd for sick-leave more often than the control boys and girls of group IA and accounted for a larger number of visits to the wards and outpatient clinics for somatic symptoms and to psychiatric clinics and wards. The two groups IB, from the general population, and MB, from the alcoholic inpatients, were like “twin” groups in that they were equally often involved in crimes with drugs and their children's social maladjustment and health status resembled each other.     

Male offspring of alcoholic parents compared with men from the general population

The probands, 211 male alcoholic inpatients, were compared with their controls, a simple random sample of 200 men, from Greater Stockholm. The group of male alcoholic inpatients and the random sample were subdivided with respect to alcohol consumption and use of hepatotoxic drugs: (IA) men from the random sample with low or moderate alcohol consumption and no use of drugs (n = 169); (IB) men from the random sample with low or moderate alcohol consumption with use of drugs (n = 31); (IIA) alcoholic inpatients with use of alcohol but no drugs (n = 171); (IIB) alcoholic inpatients with use of alcohol and drugs (n = 40). Groups IB and IIB had more psychosocial problems than the men of the other groups. They had grown up in families with more abuse of alcohol and drugs, broken homes, an alcohol-abusing father and mother and had taken up their parents' concomitant drug and alcohol abuse by parental influences. We have here a group of alcohol and drug users (group IB) who resemble the drug users in the alcoholic inpatient group IIB in that they have drunk excessively almost as long, have an early onset, have earlier also used narcotic drugs and have the same type and prevalence of mental symptoms.     

Alcohol consumption, clinical findings and retrospective psycho social data in a random sample of men in suburban Stockholm

A sample of 200 men from the general population of suburban Stockholm was investigated regarding alcohol consumption, with the aim of studying psychosocial factors in relation to consumption. Three symptoms related to heavy drinking were studied: (1) Inability to cut down or stop drinking, referred to here as subjective, relative loss of control over drinking; (2) morning shakes and malaise relieved by drinking, termed morning drinks; and (3) amnesia induced by alcohol, referred to as blackouts. The subjects were divided into three groups: (I) 41 men with low alcohol consumption without any symptom of alcoholism, (II) 106 men with low, moderate or high alcohol consumption with different numbers of such symptoms and (III) 53 heavy-drinking men with two or three symptoms. There was a higher frequency of psycho-somatic problems in group III (51%) (p less than 0.01) than in group I (22%). The children of group III had greater problems at school. Group III had more often been judged guilty of crimes (26%) (p less than 0.01) than groups II (12%) and I (5%). Group III had a significantly higher frequency of nervous problems (61%) than the other groups, and 8% of group III had been in-patients at a clinic for treatment of alcoholics.     

Mental symptoms and disorders in adulthood among offspring of alcoholic parents

211 male alcoholic inpatients (the probands) were compared with a simple random sample of 200 men from Greater Stockholm (the controls). The group of male alcoholic inpatients and the random sample were subdivided with respect to alcohol consumption and use of hepatotoxic drugs: (IA) men from the random sample with low or moderate alcohol consumption and no use of drugs (n = 169); (IB) men from the random sample with low or moderate alcohol consumption with use of drugs (n = 31); (HA) alcoholic inpatients with use of alcohol but no drugs (n = 171); (MB) alcoholic inpatients with use of alcohol and drugs (n = 40). Groups IB and IIB had grown up in families with more abuse of alcohol and drugs, broken homes and an alcohol-abusing father. They showed aggressive behaviour and hostility towards members of their own families when drunk and had even assaulted their partners, wives and children. Groups IB and IIB had been drinking excessively for almost the same time and had an earlier onset, and both had also earlier used narcotic drugs and had the same, type of mental symptoms and mental disorders. They had the same rate of accidents, hospital treatment, poisoning and violence. The alcohol and drug-combining groups in the sample from the general population and from the alcoholic in-patients were equally likely to develop social maladjustment problems, including abuse of alcohol and drugs, while they were growing up.