College student adult children of alcoholics: psychological resilience or emotional distance?

Recent investigations of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) have focused on identifying factors associated with psychological resilience and their role in academic achievement. The present study hypothesized that rather than being associated with psychological resilience, academic achievement more likely would be associated with decreased psychological functioning or emotional distance due to the single-minded pursuit of one particular endeavor. Gender differences in types of problems reported by ACOAs were also hypothesized. In a sample of 419 college students, ACOAs reported more problems than non-ACOAs in areas of interpersonal anxiety, depression, and family problems but not academic skills. There were few gender effects. Results were discussed in terms of the psychological resilience hypothesis.