Preservation of implicit memory in adult children of alcoholics

The authors investigated implicit memory in 21 adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) and 24 control individuals (all college undergraduates) who performed a serial reaction time task (SRT) to evaluate their implicit memory performance and their formation of new associations. Each group was presented with 5 blocks of 100 trials per block in which Blocks 1-4 contained a 10-item repeating sequence; Block 5 was a pseudo-random sequence. The latency difference between Block 4 and Block 5 presumably measure implicit memory. The amount of implicit memory did not differ (in ms) between the ACAs (M = 55 ms) and the controls (M = 67 ms). Implicit memory (at least as measured by the SRT task) appears to be preserved in ACAs.     

Utilizing ret for effective treatment of adult children of alcoholics

Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) are a recognized clinical population that includes approximately one of every eight Americans. Although there has been a great deal of interest in this population, studies indicate that only 5% of ACOAs receive effective treatment. The authors assert that Rational-Emotive Therapy can provide ACOAs the education, expression of suppressed feelings, and cognitive restructuring that research indicates is necessary for recovery. This paper discusses issues associated with ACOAs and methods of using RET with this population.Marjorie E. Ferstein, M.S., is an Advisor in the Judicial Program of the University of Georgia.Susan C. Whiston is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.     

Dilemmas and countertransference considerations in group psychotherapy with adult children of alcoholics

This article will explore special leader issues that emerge in psychodynamically oriented therapy groups with adult children of alcoholics. Particular focus will be on countertransference feelings that get stirred up in group leaders and techniques for dealing with some of these special dilemmas. Specific issues include (a) assumption of sameness between the therapist and the patient (the therapist assuming that he or she "understands" because of having also grown up in an alcoholic family); (b) the "will to restore," which may be destructive when the therapist, whose own self-esteem is dependent on the patient's progress in therapy, forces a "rush to recovery" on the patient; (c) other personal issues in the life of the therapist that may also resonate with experiences of the patient; (d) "countertransference goodness and availability" as it affects therapists' abilities to set reasonable limits on their patients, as well as reasonable expectations for themselves; and (e) special issues regarding therapist transparency and self-disclosure.     

Psychological profiles of adult children of alcoholics in search of therapy

Adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) and adults from dysfunctional families of origin are increasingly recognized as high risk groups for psychiatric disorders. However, there has been little empirical investigation of the psychological characteristics of these populations. This study compares clinical samples of these two groups using the Symptom Checklist-90, (SCL-90), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT), as well as DSM-III-R diagnoses and demographic information. The two groups did not differ significantly on the psychological tests and showed similar demographics and diagnoses. Both groups showed levels of psychopathology comparable to other psychiatric populations. It was concluded that clinical samples of ACOAs and adults from dysfunctional families of origin have many problems of clinical proportion. Assessment and treatment of these groups is best done by properly trained professional staff and because of their similar problems and treatment needs the two groups may be treated together.     

Gender, birth order and family role identification among adult children of alcoholics

Much attention has been paid to the influence of family dynamics in role identification development for the children of alcoholics. This article considers the development of stable and enduring behavior traits for the child through examination of alcoholic parent(s)gender, child birth order, and child gender correlates. An examination of the main and interaction effects of child gender, gender of the alcohol parent(s), and child birth order on strength of identification with the Hero, Scapegoat, Mascot or Lost Child family roles revealed significant gender differences for the Mascot, and Lost Child roles. The presence of two alcoholic parents was significant in producing diminished strength of identification with Mascot role behaviors.     

Sampling issues in research on adult children of alcoholics: adolescence and beyond

A critical examination of 98 studies on adult children of alcoholics, published from 1986 to 1995, was prompted by suggestions that sampling issues confound research findings. Over half of the studies that were reviewed involved college students. It is important to understand the methodology used in creating a knowledge base that relies heavily on late adolescent and young adult offspring of alcoholics. Thus, two main questions were asked when reviewing these studies: What methods were employed to classify offspring as being children of alcoholics? To what extent does our knowledge about adult children of alcoholics depend on college student samples and clinical samples?     

Gender, birth order and family role identification among adult children of alcoholics

Much attention has been paid to the influence of family dynamics in role identification development for the children of alcoholics. This article considers the development of stable and enduring behavior traits for the child through examination of alcoholic parent(s)gender, child birth order, and child gender correlates. An examination of the main and interaction effects of child gender, gender of the alcohol parent(s), and child birth order on strength of identification with the Hero, Scapegoat, Mascot or Lost Child family roles revealed significant gender differences for the Mascot, and Lost Child roles. The presence of two alcoholic parents was significant in producing diminished strength of identification with Mascot role behaviors.     

Psychological adjustment among adult children of alcoholics: a cross-cultural study.

In this study, we compared Hispanic and Caucasian college students identified as adult children of alcoholics in terms of psychological adjustment using the Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms (DIPS; Vincent, 1985). Results of the study suggested that, among college students, Caucasian men seem to be at a greater risk for using alcohol and drugs than Caucasian women or Hispanic men and women.     

A longitudinal study of children of alcoholics: predicting young adult substance use disorders, anxiety, and depression

This study tested the specificity of parent alcoholism effects on young adult alcohol and drug abuse/dependence, anxiety, and depression, and tested whether adolescent symptomatology and substance use mediated parent alcoholism effects. Participants were from a longitudinal study in which a target child was assessed in adolescence and young adulthood with structured interview measures (N = 454 families at Time 1). Results showed unique effects of parent alcoholism on young adult substance abuse/dependence diagnoses over and above the effects of other parental psychopathology. There was some evidence of parent alcoholism effects on young adult depression and of maternal alcoholism effects on young adult anxiety, although these were not found consistently across subsamples. Mediational models suggested that parent alcoholism effects could be partially (but not totally) explained by adolescent externalizing symptoms.     

Down on the upside: redemption,contamination, and agency in the lives of adult children of alcoholics

We investigated differences in the nature and implications of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs; n?=?53) and non-ACOAs’ (n?=?80) narrative identities. Participants described six autobiographical narratives and completed measures of emotional functioning. Narratives were coded for redemptive (bad things turning good), contaminated (good things turning bad), and agentic (perceived control) imagery. ACOAs exhibited similar levels of redemptive and contaminated imagery, and lower levels of agency in their narratives, relative to non-ACOAs. In addition, themes of redemption, contamination, and agency corresponded divergently with emotional functioning. Among ACOAs, narrative redemption and agency were related to poorer emotional functioning whereas, among non-ACOAs, narrative contamination predicted poorer emotional functioning. These findings provide indication of the manner in which ACOAs story their lives. They also align with the emerging area of research noting that, among certain vulnerable populations, redemptive and agentic imagery serve as predictors of maladaptive functioning.     

Individuation and paideia

This article attempts to discover an important historical precedent for the concept of individuation in the idea of paideia , which today, mistakenly, is often understood to have been simply the form of 'education' practised in ancient Greece. Paideia , however, was not limited to the instruction of youth and was based on no fixed programmes. It was conceived as continuing throughout the life of the individual, and as a development of natural, in-born potential. Paideia articulated a notion of 'inner culture', or cultura animi , which has since receded from Western civilization, with its anti-psychological emphasis on progress, specialization and extra-version, and with its notion that a civilization's 'culture' is primarily defined by its social structures and material tools. Present-day interest in the Jungian concept of individuation can thus be seen as a return of the repressed. An analysis of the Telemachy - the opening cantos of the Odyssey - in which Odysseus' son, Telemachus, accomplishes his passage to adulthood, reveals the need for the realization of natural potential to be an innate and archetypal ideal. Homeric poetry is then seen to have furnished a unified canon for the whole human being, whereas the subsequent course of European civilization, starting with the Greek Sophists and an ever more specialized notion of philosophy, is seen to have fostered a unilateral mode of maturation. It is argued that nostalgia for paideia indirectly reasserts itself through the widespread cultural interest in the idea of individuation.     

Substance use and symptomatology among adolescent children of alcoholics.

This study assessed the magnitude and specificity of parental alcoholism as a risk factor for internalizing symptomatology, externalizing symptomatology, and alcohol and drug use in adolescence. We evaluated parents' and children's reports of symptomatology and children's reports of alcohol and drug use in a community sample of 454 adolescents. The results showed that parental alcoholism was a moderate to strong risk factor, with stronger risk associated with recent (rather than remitted) parental alcoholism. Multivariate analyses showed that the specificity of risk varied with the outcome measure. In predicting externalizing symptomatology, the risk associated with parental alcoholism was mediated by co-occurring parental psychopathology and environmental stress. However, in predicting alcohol use, the father's alcoholism was a specific risk factor above and beyond the more generalized effects of stress and family disruption.