Alcoholism in Families

Alcoholism in families

Alcoholism in families is unfortunately something that has become more and more common over the years. I read through many articles and found some things that were surprising about alcoholism in families and the effect of the children. I feel that when you ask people about alcohol abuse and what it does to children, it is a common sense response. But as you read into it and start to see some real facts you see that it is way more than just what any normal persons response of alcoholism and it's effect on children.

The first article I read was called "Children of Alcoholics". One in five adults grew up with an alcoholic. That is something that I would have never known, yes people realize that alcoholism has grown greater over the years but to find out that the ratio is 1:5 is alarming. This article was about the effects that alcohol has on child between mentally, physically and emotionally. The author of this article was able to break down many effects that come from children who have alcoholic parents and how the children display those feelings and emotions in the real world. Although this was one of the shorter articles that I read, I did find that they put in the most important information on how children actually display in the outside world what is going on behind close doors.

It is very hard to hide the fact that a parent or both parents you are living with are in fact alcoholics. Alcoholism effects the entire family not just one person. "Alcoholism and It's Effects On The Family" really showed how alcoholism can turn into a family disease. The alcoholic in the family is effecting everyone that is around him/her. The most important thing that I took from reading this article was how you may grow up in a household with an alcoholic and even after they get treatment, if they ever do; the child who was exposed to all that growing up may never recover from it. It is a scary thought but it is true.

It is not good to read that 28.6 percent of children from age 0-17 are exposed to a parent or both parents who are alcoholics. " Explosing Children to Alcoholism " is where we see such numbers like this which you may first think only 28 percent, but when they are referring to children who have been exposed alcoholism and they say 28 percent that is something extremely serious. This article had facts that was from a 1992 census called the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. This article gave a lot of information with statistics and percentages dealing with children who have been exposed to a parent who has abused alcohol.

After reading through many articles, I found the same information in most of them, but others expanded on a certain point more than others. For example "Children of Alcoholics- Are They Different " this is an article that went into great detail about