Can Your Children Drive You To Drink?

Stress and Parenting in Adults Interacting With Children With ADHD
by National Institute of Health

Several publications in the psychological literature support the theory that children are a major source of stress for their parents. Not surprisingly, parents of children with behavior problems - particularly children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - experience highly elevated levels of daily child-rearing stresses. Children with ADHD disregard parental requests, commands, and rules; fight with siblings; disturb neighbors; and have frequent negative encounters with schoolteachers and principals. Although many investigations have dealt with parenting stress caused by disruptive children, only a handful of studies have addressed the question of how parents cope with this stress. Those findings are presented, including a series of studies assessing parental distress and alcohol consumption among parents of normal children and ADHD children after the parents interacted with either normal- or deviant-behaving children. Those studies strongly support the assumption that the deviant child behaviors that represent major chronic interpersonal stressors for parents of ADHD children are associated with increased parental alcohol consumption. Studies also have demonstrated that parenting hassles may result in increased alcohol consumption in parents of "normal" children. Given these findings, the stress associated with parenting and its influence on parental alcohol consumption should occupy a salient position among the variables that are examined in the study of stress and alcohol problems.

The idea that children can cause stress in parents is an oftenexploited scenario in cartoon pages. "Dennis the Menace" has tormented his parents and other adults for decades, and Calvin, the little boy in the cartoon series "Calvin and Hobbes," kept a record on his calendar of how often he drove his mother crazy. Similarly, in the noncartoon world, the question of whether children cause stress yields numerous raised hands in any group of parents. Indeed, a considerable number of publications in the psychological literature support the argument that children are a major source of stress for their parents.

Not surprisingly, parents of children with behavior problems - particularly children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - experience highly elevated levels of daily child-rearing stresses. Children with ADHD disregard parental requests, commands, and rules; fight with siblings; disturb neighbors; and have frequent negative encounters with schoolteachers and principals.

Although many investigations have dealt with parenting stress caused by disruptive children, only a handful of studies have addressed the question of how parents cope with this stress. For example, if stress in general can precipitate alcohol consumption, it would not be surprising to discover that some parents might attempt to cope with their parenting stress and distress by drinking. This article first reviews the relationship between childhood behavior problems and subsequent adult drinking behavior, and then explores the effects of child behavior on parental drinking. The discussion includes a review of a series of studies assessing parental distress and alcohol consumption among parents of normal children and ADHD children after the parents interacted with either normal- or deviant-behaving children.

Childhood Behavior Disorders and Adult Alcohol Consumption

Children with ADHD have problems paying attention, controlling impulses, and modulating their activity level. Two other disruptive behavior disorders - oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) - overlap considerably with ADHD. Children with ODD are irritable and actively defiant toward parents and teachers, whereas children with CD exhibit norm-violating behavior, including aggression, stealing, and property destruction. Substantial comorbidity occurs among these disorders, ranging from 50 to 75 percent. A large body of research has demonstrated many connections between alcohol problems in adults and these three disruptive behavior disorders: Children with externalizing disorders are at increased risk for developing alcohol or other drug (AOD) abuse and related problems as adolescents and as adults. Adult alcoholics more commonly have a history of ADHD symptomatology compared with nonalcoholics. The prevalence of alcohol problems is higher among fathers of boys with ADHD and/or CD/ODD than among fathers of boys without these disorders. Similarities exist between the behavioral, temperamental, and cognitive characteristics of many children of alcoholics and such characteristics of children with ADHD and related disruptive disorders.

In summary, these findings indicate that childhood externalizing behavior disorders are associated with an increased risk of familial alcohol problems, as well as subsequent adult alcohol problems. Furthermore, parental alcohol problems may contribute to a child's current and future psychopathology. Conversely, a child's behavior problems may intensify parental drinking, which in turn may exacerbate the child's pathology. This vicious cycle may result in ever more serious problems for the entire family.

About the Author

NIH is the nation's medical research agency - making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.