Merinov A.V., Shustov D.I., Lukashuk A.V.
Adult children of alcoholics: suicidological, experimental and psychological characteristics
Ryazan State Medical University named after academician I.P. Pavlov, Russian Federation
Abstract.
Adult children of alcoholics have attracted for a long time the attention of scientists abroad and in this country. Many studies have proved that education in families with parents who suffer from alcohol addiction affects the whole life of a child. The problem is urgent in the first place due to the high prevalence of the studied cohort in the whole world. In the present work suicidological as well as experimental and psychological characteristics of boys and girls, one of whose parents suffered from alcohol dependence have been investigated. The study involved 90 single girls and 100 unmarried young men, brought up in the families where one parent was alcohol dependent. The control group consisted of 200 girls and 180 boys having no problems with alcohol dependence in their families. In the studied group we found the significantly greater number of suicidal and non-suicidal autoaggressive patterns. They also distinguished themselves by a number of personal and psychological features enabling us to speak about their suicidological specificity. Boys and girls who grow up in the families where one parent is addicted to alcohol constitute a special group with an increased risk of suicidal activity. All the data obtained expand the now existing notion about the negative impact of education in the «alcoholic» family and convincingly demonstrate that alcohol dependence of parents is an important prosuicidal factor for their children. Taking into account these data, there is a logical need for the elaboration of special psychotherapeutic programs and techniques, for the formation of associations of «adult children of alcoholics», as well as the necessity for the medical specialists to become aware of the problem character of the cohort under consideration.
Key words: adult children from the families of patients with alcohol dependence, autoaggressive behaviour, medical and social consequences of alcoholism.
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