Maternal alcohol abuse/dependence, children's behavior problems, and home environment: estimates from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth using propensity score matching.

OBJECTIVE

Propensity score (PS) matching was used to investigate the relationship between maternal alcohol abuse (AA) and alcohol dependence (AD), based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria and three child outcomes: child behavior problems and two characteristics of the child's home environment as measured by the Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment-Short Form, cognitive stimulation and emotional support.

METHOD

A cohort of children (N = 2,193; 49% female) whose mothers were drawn from the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were stratified by gender and matched on maternal propensity to exhibit AA or AD.

RESULTS

After matching, sons of mothers with AA/AD had higher behavior problem scores (p < or = .05), and daughters of mothers with AA/AD lived in homes with significantly less emotional support (p < or = .05) and cognitive stimulation (p < or = .005). Results were robust to alternative specifications of PS regressions.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that policies aimed at reducing AA and AD among young adult women with children are justified. PS matched results also suggest that school counselors and mental health providers who encounter young boys with elevated behavior problems should consider maternal AA/AD as one possible causal factor. Future research should be directed toward understanding the trajectory of these outcomes and their sequelae over the child's life cycle and toward developing improved methods of identifying and intervening with at-risk children of both genders and their mothers.