Poon E, Ellis D A, Fitzgerald H E, Zucker R A
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2000 Jul;24(7):1020-7.
Research on intellectual and cognitive functioning of children of alcoholics has been marked by inconsistency, with some studies unable to document deficits. This discrepancy may reflect the substantial heterogeneity found in the alcoholic population and among families of alcoholics. The current study sought to examine the effects of familial alcoholism subtypes on intellectual, cognitive, and academic performance in early school-aged sons of alcoholics.
Subjects for the present study were 198 elementary-age boys who were participants in the larger MSU-UM Longitudinal Study. Familial alcoholism subtypes were determined based on fathers' alcoholism and antisocial personality disorder diagnoses. Intellectual functioning was measured with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R); academic achievement was measured with the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised. In addition, Mazes and Freedom from Distractability factor scores of the WISC-R were used to assess abstract planning and attention abilities.
Children of antisocial alcoholics (AALs) displayed the worst IQ and academic achievement compared with children of nonantisocial alcoholics (NAALs) and controls. In addition, children of AALs displayed relatively poorer abstract planning and attention abilities compared with children from control families. Regression analyses revealed that familial alcoholism subtype continued to account for variance in child intellectual ability even when other factors were excluded.
Findings indicate that children from AAL families are most susceptible to relative intellectual, cognitive, and academic deficits. The study further supports the proposition that familial risk characteristics (i.e., paternal alcoholism and antisociality) may serve as effective indicators of family risk for poor intellectual outcome among offspring as early as the elementary school years.
对酗酒者子女的智力和认知功能的研究结果并不一致，一些研究未能证实存在缺陷。这种差异可能反映出酗酒人群以及酗酒者家庭中存在的显著异质性。当前的研究旨在探讨家族性酒精中毒亚型对酗酒者学龄早期儿子的智力、认知和学业成绩的影响。
本研究的受试者为198名小学年龄段的男孩，他们是规模更大的密歇根州立大学 - 密歇根大学纵向研究的参与者。家族性酒精中毒亚型是根据父亲的酒精中毒和反社会人格障碍诊断来确定的。智力功能用韦氏儿童智力量表修订版（WISC - R）进行测量；学业成绩用广泛成就测验修订版进行测量。此外，WISC - R的迷宫和注意力分散因子得分用于评估抽象规划和注意力能力。
与非反社会酗酒者（NAALs）的子女和对照组相比，反社会酗酒者（AALs）的子女智商和学业成绩最差。此外，与来自对照组家庭的孩子相比，AALs的子女在抽象规划和注意力能力方面相对较差。回归分析表明，即使排除其他因素，家族性酒精中毒亚型仍能解释儿童智力能力的差异。
研究结果表明，来自AAL家庭的孩子最容易出现相对的智力、认知和学业缺陷。该研究进一步支持了这样一种观点，即家族风险特征（即父亲的酗酒和反社会行为）早在小学阶段就可能作为后代智力发育不良的家庭风险的有效指标。
