Mother-daughter and father-daughter attachment of college student ACOAs

Subst Use Misuse. 2008;43(11):1559-70. doi: 10.1080/10826080802240906.

Abstract

This 2005 study compared parent-child attachment in 89 American female Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) as compared to 201 non-ACOAs. Women attended a large university in the southeastern United States. Participants categorized as ACOA on the Children of Alcoholics Screen Test (CAST; Jones, 1983) reported significantly more negative affect and less support from their fathers as indicated on the Parental Attachment Questionnaire (Kenney, 1987). When results were examined by the gender of the alcohol-abusing(1) parent, participants who suspected their fathers were problem drinkers did not differ from non-ACOAs in their attachment to either parent. As compared to non-ACOAs, women who self-identified as daughters of problem-drinking mothers reported poorer attachment both to mothers and fathers.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Alcoholism / psychology*
  • Child of Impaired Parents / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nuclear Family*
  • Parent-Child Relations*
  • Southeastern United States
  • Students
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Universities