Link drinking parents and labour market outcomes for children
blog economicenglish2
15-12-2009
role play in families with alcohol abuse
Kids who grow up with
drinking parents take a role in the family life,
Some kids are becoming a
clown, some become peacemakers, others super responsible.
Al these skills are developed to cope with
the hard life in a family with parental alcoholism. These skills sometimes seem
useful for a job when they grow up, but its not how it seems. The clown often becomes
irresponsible, the super responsible becomes a perfectionist demanding
perfection of himself and those around him. These characteristics arent supporting
their carreer options at all.
On top of that they will
have to carry all the childhood dramas and traumas with them for the rest of
their life.
Children of alcoholics
are often neglected, they arent told how to communicate in a proper way, they
are being yelled at in abusive language, and they arent intellectually stimulated
like it should be.
This results in
strong feelings of incompetence, inferiority and guilt. They dont know how to
express themselves.
Research confirms
that children of alcoholics tend to score lower on tests that measure verbal
skills. This does not mean that theyre intellectually impaired.
The lack of
verbal skills impedes their ability to make social contact, their academic performance,
and in the end the performance on a job interview.
Living in
an alcoholic family affects the development of children.
Researches which compare
(adult) children of alcoholic parents with children of nonalcoholic parents indicate
that physical and psychological abuse from alcoholic parents teaches children a
different behavior model and a distorted personality with which they can
survive in an alcoholic family. These experiences and personalities are carried
into the adult lives of children. They suffer from anxiety,
depression and low self-esteem and demonstrate poor academic performances in
school. So when they are dealing with their job, family and social relationship
later, they always overreact emotionally.
Adult children of alcoholics can practice ‘being normal’
Acknowledging
the effects of an alcoholic family member on his/her family is an important
step in the treatment of the problems of adult children of alcoholics.
Children of
alcoholics, who grow up in a dysfunctional family, learn by themselves how to
protect themselves from the abuse of parents who are deeply under the influence
by alcohol. As a result of the unhappy childhood, they become sensitive and distrust
everybody. Their family is like a festering wound which cannot be touched. If
adult children of alcoholics can break the silence and separate their past from
the present, then they will be able to move on and to be as 'normal' as the
children from nonalcoholic family.
Father’s Drinking May Affect Relationship Between Mother and Child
The mother
is a primary caregiver who infants will form attachments to.
Alcoholic fathers
seriously hinder this healthy relationship between mother en child. The mother
is dissatisfied with the marriage because of the father's alcohol abuse. The
relationship discord of the mother reduces her care and love towards her child
to a great degree. Growing up in this dysfunctional family may cause the
asocial personality of the child. Further the mentality problem can cause criminal
behavior. We can decide that in the first place it is the parents’ responsibility
to give their children a functional family and positive view of the world.
An example of a full-grown child with a problem-drinking parent is Ronald Reagan, a person with a successful job (he became president of the United States) but a less successful life.
He had a lot of behavioural characteristics typical for such a child: cold and distant, he needed a lot of appreciation and support, was always in search for approval, was sometimes excessive loyal to associates, This man was a typical example of a child grown up with an alcoholic father. The question is: was it really that harmful? Maybe, he wouldnt want to be this successful without his drinking father. Leonie Defauw
Research has developed the effects of parental problem-drinking on a childs health.
Childrens health decreases a lot when there is parental problem-drinking. Not only because these children are more likely to start drinking themselves, but also because they have more stress, behavioural problems and depressions. On the long term we see that these childrens utilization of acute health care services, such as hospitalization and mental health services is a lot higher.
All these factors decrease the labour market outcomes for them.
Children with drinking parents are less likely to study on higher educational levels.
Research has revealed several reasons for this. First of all these children have to do a lot of the household (or have to take care for their sick parents), so less time can be spend on their studies. Secondly, alcohol abused parents are less interested for their childrens studies and so these children get less support. Another reason is more financial: large amounts are spend on drinking, so there is less to be spend on education for the children.
I think this is an important determinant in the link between drinking parents and childrens labour market outcomes, because nowadays diplomas are very important in the labour market.
If you want to have a good job, your diploma is an important factor. Children of alcoholics often don't finish school at all! The reason for that is the alcohol problem of their parents. Alcoholics dont care for what their children do, so they dont get stimulated. The children cannot talk with their parents about issues theyd discussed in school and I havent even mentioned the bad language thats used at home.
The labour market is cruel and unscrupulous. Their motto is: Only the best persons at the best places. Everyone knows that a potential employer will ask you about your background. He wants you to be assertive, social,... You must have a lot of friends, In short, for a good job, you need to have a balanced life.
What to do when your parents drink too much? In that case you probably have none of these characteristics
Well, the only solution is talking! Dare to talk about your problems and you will get the support you need. Especially in group sessions with fellow sufferers. Carl Dejonghe
Children of women who use alcohol during their pregnancy are more likely to be depressed during their childhood. This is the result of a study with 41 mothers and their babies. The researchers tested these babies until they were in elementary school.
Strangely enough, if the mother stops drinking after her delivery and raises her child as it should be, the depression symptoms arent any better.
Unfortunately, the research hasnt been continued until the children enter the labour market, because its probably too expensive and time-consuming.
Nevertheless, its certainly a factor that determines the labour market outcomes. Carl Dejonghe
