Identifying adult children of alcoholics: methodological review and a comparison of the CAST-6 with other methods

18 Feb Identifying adult children of alcoholics: methodological review and a comparison of the CAST-6 with other methods

Though because the experiences have common features, it’s likely you will recognize at least a few items on Dr. Jan’s list. If you grew up in a home with a parent who misused alcohol, you’re probably familiar with the feeling of never knowing what to expect from one day to the next. When one or both parents struggle with addiction, the home environment is predictably unpredictable. If you grew up in a household that drank a lot, you may need to identify the signs of alcoholism, and how to fix it. Alcoholism, or “Substance Use Disorder”, can severely damage a person’s health and make them act in harmful ways. Living in the same household as an alcoholic is difficult.

Adult Children of Alcoholics: Discussion Questions

The best place you can seek help is through therapy and working with a dedicated mental health professional. As a child, seeing your parents drink so much (and how they acted afterward) may have been scary, confusing, or sad. You may often have thought you were the one who caused them to drink.

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You are at risk for having the same problems as your parents. Maybe they haven’t developed yet, or maybe you are in denial. The best way to ensure the wellbeing of those you love is to seek help. If you grew up in an alcoholic home, you may have developed any combination of the following challenges. If you think you may exhibit symptoms of these mental illnesses, please see a therapist. If you grew up with a parent who drank too much, you may be dealing with long-term effects you never realized.

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The CAST-6 is confirmed as a useful brief screening measure. It was shown to be internally reliable, have good retest reliability and to agree well with other measures. Using a face to face interview as the comparison standard, however, a number of single questions performed equally as well as the CAST-6 and other more complex methods. Many adult children find that seeking professional treatment or counseling for insight into their feelings, behaviors, and struggles helps them achieve greater awareness of how their childhood shaped who they are today.

Did You Grow Up With a Problem Drinker?

• Take this quiz and see just how much their drinking has affected your adult life.
• Discusses what an Adult Child is and lists 25 questions to help someone identify whether they suffer from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family.
• Like it or not, our parents have an impact on our behavior in ways that we may not even realize.
• The CAST-6 is confirmed as a useful brief screening measure.
• Includes The Laundry List, other types of dysfunctional families.
• Others have found help through mutual support groups such as Al-Anon Family Groups or Adult Children of Alcoholics.
• If you grew up in a household that drank a lot, you may need to identify the signs of alcoholism, and how to fix it.

Many children of alcoholics develop similar characteristics and personality traits. In her 1983 landmark book, “Adult Children of Alcoholics,” the late Janet G. Woititz, Ed.D, outlined 13 of them.2 “Dr. Jan” (as she was known) was a best-selling author, lecturer, and counselor who was also married to an alcoholic. Discusses what an Adult Child is and lists 25 questions to help someone identify whether they suffer from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family. Includes The Laundry List, other types of dysfunctional families. This can also happen with adult children of alcoholics screening quiz things like pills and other drugs.

• Maybe they haven’t developed yet, or maybe you are in denial.
• These methods include self-report single questions and questionnaires and interview schedules.
• If you grew up with a parent who showed these signs, you are likely the child of an alcoholic.
• Many adult children of alcoholics (ACoA) experienced tumultuous childhoods that continue to impact them into adulthood.
• If you’re a child of an alcoholic, that doesn’t mean that everything on this list will apply to you.

Those of us who have lived with this disease as children sometimes have problems which the Al‑Anon program can help us to resolve. Support the creation of new tools for the entire mental health community. Others have found help through mutual support groups such as Al-Anon Family Groups or Adult Children of Alcoholics.

If you grew up with a parent who showed these signs, you are likely the child of an alcoholic. You can live a happy, healthy life especially if you seek out help from a therapist. Through support groups and therapy, you do not have to be defined as the adult child of an alcoholic. Children of alcoholics often have to deny their feelings of sadness, fear, and anger in order to survive. Since unresolved feelings will always surface eventually, they often manifest during adulthood.

Methods of identifying adult children of alcoholics are described and their psychometric properties are reviewed. These methods include self-report single questions and questionnaires and interview schedules. The CAST-6, a shortened version of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, is compared with a variety of these methods.