Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:793-800
Copyright © 1993 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychiatric disorders in adult children of alcoholics: data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area project
RJ Mathew, WH Wilson, DG Blazer and LK George
Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. 27710.
OBJECTIVE: The authors examined differences in the prevalence of
psychiatric disorders in individuals who did or did not have alcoholic
parents. METHOD: They used data from the National Institute of Mental
Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area project, specifically from the Piedmont
of North Carolina. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders was estimated in 408
ECA participants who reported problem drinking in their mother, their
father, or both and in 1,477 age- and sex-matched subjects who did not
report having alcoholic parents. RESULTS: The adult children of alcoholics
showed significantly higher current (6- month) prevalence rates of simple
phobia and agoraphobia and lifetime rates of dysthymia, generalized anxiety
disorder, panic disorder, simple phobia, and agoraphobia. Adult children of
alcoholics also had significantly more antisocial symptoms. Male children
of alcoholics had higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse and reported more
antisocial symptoms than did female children of alcoholics. Male children
of alcoholics had a significantly higher rate of lifetime diagnoses of
alcohol and drug abuse than men who were not children of alcoholics. More
female children of alcoholics had generalized anxiety disorder than women
who were not children of alcoholics. Both male and female children of
alcoholics had significantly more antisocial symptoms than their matched
comparison subjects. Sons of alcoholic fathers had a higher rate of
substance abuse and more antisocial symptoms than did daughters of
alcoholic fathers. Daughters of alcoholic fathers had a higher rate of
generalized anxiety disorder. CONCLUSIONS: These data on adult children of
alcoholics in a large community sample add to a literature based mainly on
descriptive material or studies of smaller samples.
