A review of the Literature

   The scale of the problem

Alongside the numerous ways in which alcohol misuse can be defined, and the range of meanings that can be attributed to its use in different cultures, there is such a diverse range and level of severity of the associated health and social problems that it is impossible to arrive at a precise estimate of the number of children and families affected. Furthermore, the contribution of alcohol to such family problems as violence, divorce, family break-up and behavioural problems in children is not normally assessed and recorded in official statistics. It is also an accepted fact that alcohol problems in families have the character of a shameful secret, with families often reluctant to admit that their problems are drink-related, and health or social work professionals involved with them not thinking or wishing to ask.

UK estimates place the number of 16-65 year olds dependent on alcohol at around 3 million. Assuming that each substance misuser will negatively affect at least two close family members, an estimate of eight million family members in the UK living with the negative consequences of someone else’s alcohol misuse can be posited. Because the level of substance use set as ‘harmful’, ‘problematic’ or ‘dependent’ is quite high (in reality, problems for families may arise from much lower consumption levels), this is probably a conservative estimate (Velleman and Templeton, 2003). It is also true to say that not all children and other family members in such situations will have adverse experiences as a result of a family member’s problematic alcohol use.

Between 780,000 and 1.3 million children are affected by parental alcohol problems ( Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, 2004).

Other figures suggest that there are nearly four million people in the UK who have grown up in a family where one or both parents drank to excess (NACOA, 2001-2002). The European Union puts the numbers of children of problem drinking parents between 4.5m and 7.7m (Eurocare, 1998).

It can be particularly hard for children to seek help, but research in this area has demonstrated that children are affected, and do try to ask for help. Between one-fifth and one-third of calls to the NSPCC Child Protection hotline in a four month period were from children who were being physically abused by their drinking parents. Analysis of calls to Childline (Houston et al., 1997) over 12 months showed that just over 3,000 calls were about a parent’s drinking with over half concerned about a male parent, a third about a female parent and just under 10% concerned about the drinking of both parents. Parental alcohol misuse was just one of a range of problems cited by the children, including running away, violence in the home, physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and poor family relationships.