Effects on children and families

   Effects on parenting capacity

As well as affecting family life, structures and processes, there may also be effects on individual parents. Because the parent whose own use of alcohol is the problem:

• he or she may became increasingly focused on the alcohol, and therefore may become less loving, caring, nurturing or less consistent
• there is an increased risk of parental violence
• there is an increased risk of child neglect and child abuse.

The spouse without the drinking problem often copes by:

• becoming increasingly focused on their alcohol misusing spouse, and therefore not on the child
• taking on all roles, which means that the stress and strain they are under increases and this also affects their relationship with their child
• further, by taking on all roles, they also become the only one to take on the ‘negative’ roles such as disciplining, making rules, explaining that there is no money for toys, etc. Children sometimes identify the non-drinking parent as the problem for these reasons.