Protecting against long term harm

Resilience factors against long term harm

There are a number of factors which make it more likely that children will be resilient in the face of parental substance misuse:

how they cope
how much social support they have
intrinsic factors: what sort of person they are: how they deal with problems generally. Not all children are the same!

These resilience factors are associated with:

how the family of origin functions with someone with a drink problem in its midst
and
the amount/type of external support systems, outside the family of origin.

Resilience Factors associated with how the family of origin functions with someone with a drinking problem in its midst

Resilience Factors in family of origin	Explanatory note
The other parent	If he or she is able to provide a stable environment where the child can grow and develop, and is able to provide the time and attention which so many children require, the risks of a negative outcome are reduced.
A cohesive parental relationship	The important issue to children is the quality of the family environment, as opposed to the parental problem drinking. If parents manage to retain their cohesive relationship and present a united and caring front to the children, the children will be less at risk.
A cohesive family	Even if the parents do not manage to retain the cohesion within their own relationship, risk will be reduced if family relationships, family affection, and family activities are maintained.
Maintenance of positive aspects of family life	If the children are able to separate the positive aspects of their family life away from the disruptive behaviour of the problem drinker (for example, if they are able to preserve distinct family rituals).

Resilience factors associated with external support systems that lie outside the family of origin

Resilience factors outside the family of origin	Explanatory note
The influence of important others	People outside of the family, usually a non-parental adult.The stabilising influence mentioned already does not have to come from the other parent: another figure can provide it, such as a grandparent, an influential teacher, or a neighbour.
Engagement with friends and interests outside family	How actively the child both disengages from the disruptive elements of family life and engages with others outside the family (e.g. schoolmates) or with stabilising activities (such as a major hobby).
Planning or deliberateness	The active and deliberate attempt to make one’s life more ordered and structured, and less disrupted by the problems in the family.

Resilience factors and intrinsic issues
Some children are more positive, more determined, more driven to succeed or to not go under which may also explain why some children of problem drinkers are very high achievers in a range of fields. This is not well understood, but work on building coping strategies and confidence in an individual child, as well and promoting better family functioning, may also help to protect against long term harm.

Summary so far

Children who live with parents where one or both have serious alcohol problems are at risk of developing major problems of their own, both as children and when they grow up to become adults.
This is not a forgone conclusion. There are many factors (positive family functioning, external support, coping style, intrinsic drive, fewer or less intense risk factors, eg violence) can all lead to resilience.
This means that there are lots of things that people (including professionals in contact with children) can do to help reduce the risks to these children, and to increase the probability of children being resilient. And most of these are unrelated to the parent’s alcohol misuse.