10% of kids live with an alcoholic parent

More than ten percent of US children live with an alcoholic parent and are at increased risk of developing an array of health problems of their own. This is according to a new study released by the government.

Researchers at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) analyzed national survey data from 2005 through 2010 and found that 7.5 million children or about one in ten are living with a parent who is alcohol addicted during any given year. Many of the kids pointed out in the survey lived in a two parent household where one or even both of the parents had a drinking problem. The children in this category number an average of 6.1 million.

The balance of the kids, 1.4 million of them, lived in a single-parent home where that single parent had a drinking disorder. The overwhelming majority of these parents is a mom.

Children living with alcoholics are at greater risk for becoming alcoholics themselves. Even before that they are at risk of developing such mental disorders as depression and anxiety. These children are also more likely to be abused or neglected by their alcoholic parents as rational judgment diminishes with alcohol use and violence increases. These children are also more likely to have cognitive and language deficiencies, developing skills later than their peers.

And as far as becoming alcoholics themselves one day, they are four times more likely than their friends who live in non-alcoholic homes to develop a drinking problem of their own.

Source: Reuters