Parental alcoholism: an examination of male and female alcoholics in treatment.

This study investigated the implications of parental alcoholism in 639 male and female alcoholics who were in treatment. In comparison with persons who did not report a parental history of alcoholism (PA-), the 264 offspring of alcoholics (PA+) were characterized by higher levels of alcohol dependency and alcohol-related consequences, increased reports of use of other drugs and higher levels of MMPI-measured psychopathology. Comparisons of PA+ patients with PA- patients with the same age of onset of problematic alcohol use suggested that PA+ persons are characterized more by an early onset of alcoholism than by a more severe form of the disorder. Results with female PA+ alcoholics were similar to those obtained with their male counterparts, although PA+ women exhibited very high levels of MMPI-measured psychopathology in comparison to both PA+ men and PA- women.