Children of Alcoholics

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Recommended: A study of alcoholic families found that adult children of alcoholics who came from families

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seventy six million Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. That means one out of four families is affected by an alcoholic, making alcoholism responsible for more family problems than any other single cause (Parsons). Alcoholism is a disease that not only affects the individual, but also everyone around the alcoholic. Alcoholics can make irrational decisions that are harmful not only to themselves but also to the people around them. These irrational decisions can cause financial instability for the household which, in turn, contributes to neglect.

Alcoholics may make the financial problems a family is already experiencing worse, and sometimes creates new ones. This is due to several factors. Alcoholics frequently just spend too much money on their addictions. Some alcoholics, in order to support their addiction, will use all of their own money, and that is gone, they will use other family member’s money as well. Alcohol has been proven to impair motor function and reaction speed. Therefore it is safe to assume that an alcoholic is more likely to experience an injury than someone that is not impaired. These injuries can cost the alcoholic through medical expenses and loss of time on the job (Health Problems). These examples are short-term health problems. Often times the long-term health problems alcoholics face prove to be much more costly.

Some examples of the long-term health problems they have are heart disease, liver damage, cirrhosis, and problems of the kidneys. These are very serious health conditions and hospitalization for them is very expensive.

Alcoholics often times have trouble holding jobs. Alcohol can affect a worker’s rate ...

... middle of paper ...

...al instability fallowed by physical neglect for the children of an alcoholic.

Works Cited

Child Welfare Information Gateway. “Types of Child Neglect.” eNotAlone, Web. 1 April 2011

http://www.enotalone.com/article/9887.html

“Health problems related to alcohol.” Addiction in Family, Problems Caused by Alcohol, 27 Nov. 2010. Web. 1 April 2011

http://addictioninfamily.com/alcohol/problems-caused-by-alcohol/

Parsons, Tetyana. “Alcoholism and its Effect on the Family.” AllPsych Online,

AllPsych Journal, 14 Dec. 2003. Web. 1 April 2011

http://allpsych.com/journal/alcoholism.html

“The Relationship between Parental Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Child Maltreatment.” Child Abuse.com, Study Number: 14, Arctic Originals Inc., 2011. Web. 1 April 2011

http://www.childabuse.com/fs14.htm

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print

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