Study says children can cause parents to drink

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Disruptive children can cause parents to drink more, a Florida State University study released Friday shows.

“I’m not suggesting we blame children for the alcoholism of their parents, because those who grow up in alcoholic homes have suffered enough already,” said Dr. Alan Lang, an associate professor of psychology at Florida State. “Nonetheless, particularly difficult children can cause distress for parents and, in some cases, this may contribute to increased alcohol use.”

Contrary to the teachings of self-help groups, who place the onus on parents and tell children of alcoholics they aren’t to blame, the Florida State study may provide the first documented evidence that children actually can cause their parents to drink more.

Lang teamed with Dr. William Pelham of the University of Pittsburgh to conduct the research.

“Our studies show how the destructive role of alcohol in parent-child interactions is a two-way street,” Lang said. “Problem drinkers make poor parents, but problem children may also drive parents to drink.”

He said the findings are similar to those of studies that show children who are mentally retarded or have serious behavioral problems are abused more often than normal, obedient children.

“The point is that while we usually think of parents as influencers of children, children can affect parents as well,” Lang said. “And the outcome is not always favorable.”

Dr. Robin Room, scientific director of the Alchohol Research Group of the Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, wasn’t surprised by the findings but said it was important to look into the cause of drinking among parents, “rather than give in to the bumper sticker-type humor that says children cause their parents to drink.

“It’s important to understand that parental drinking patterns can later influence their children’s drinking patterns,” Room said.

The Florida researchers, under a grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, asked 120 parents with 5- to 12-year-old sons to interact with an unfamiliar boy of a similar age.

The parents were then given an opportunity to drink as much or as little alcohol as they wanted, while anticipating a second interaction with the same child.

Half of the parents in the study had difficult children of their own with short attention spans, hyperactivity, conduct disorders, or some combination of the three. The other half had only children without behavior disorders.

But the researchers stacked the deck. Half the parents had initially interacted with boys who behaved normally, while half had faced boys trained by the researchers to behave in an overactive and disruptive way.

Among parents of normal children, those who interacted with disruptive boys drank one-third more than those who interacted with a cooperative child.

“I feel justified in suggesting that these results indicate that drinking is a parental behavior that can be influenced by the characteristics and behaviors of children,” Lang said.

Parents with disruptive children at home responded differently to the study, however, depending on the drinking patterns of their own parents. Those who had a family history of drinking problems drank 50 percent more after interacting with a deviant child actor, while those with no such family history drank less.

“This suggests that people differ in their vulnerability to increased drinking in response to the stress of interactions with a difficult child,” Lang said.