Families and Alcohol: A Messy Mixture

The evidence on the outcomes of adult offspring of families with alcohol use disorders is inconclusive. Some research suggests that it can lead to psychological distress for the adult offspring, and other research does not. One model used to understand the impact suggests that codependency is the moderating variable in the relationship between development of psychological stress in later life and alcohol dependence struggles in the family of origin.

Codependency is sometimes seen in the spouses or children of individual with a substance use disorder. Codependent individuals often engage in enabling. They may overzealously try to help the individual with an SUD, but really they are just perpetuating the usage of the substance by shielding the individual from the consequences of their usage.  The codependent individual tends to be focused outside themselves, they can lack expression of feelings because they concern themselves with the other’s dysfunctional behavior. Often, boundaries become blurry or nonexistent in the codependent relationship.

A study conducted by Dr. Daniel Harkness and colleagues explored the relationship between codependent attitudes and behavior of adult offspring who come from families with alcohol use disorders and their experience of psychological distress. The researchers found that codependent attitude and behavior in the participants elevated anxiety, hostility, and paranoid-ideation. Interestingly, they found that it can diminish depression, interpersonal sensitivity, psychoticism, and somatic disease. Something that must be taken into consideration when evaluating the findings of this study; though, is that this is just one of a series of pilot studies looking at how to measure codependency and its effects. Even with this limitation the findings are excellent for spurring on further research in the area.

I am personally passionate about the topic. Kids do not choose their homes or the impact those homes have on them. The impact can be devastating, and I view it as a privilege to be able to do science to better understand the impact of the family of origin and parental choices on later outcomes. It may be overly optimistic and definitely extending beyond the scope of this study, but I believe articles like these could help someone love other people more (An unexpected perk of Science!). We have to learn to see that there is more to an individual than just their hostile/anxious/paranoid behavior. Maybe behind the hostile behavior they have codependent attitudes and a family with alcohol abuse problems.

 Abstract

Harkness, D., Manhire, S., Blanchard, J., & Darling, J. (2007). Codependent attitude and behavior: Moderators of psychological distress in adult offspring of families with alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 25(3), 39-52. doi: 10.1300/J020v25n0304