Children of alcoholics more likely to drink when stressed

Children of alcoholics more likely to drink when stressed

By Liz Lockhart

For children who have a parent with a drink problem the risk that you will consume more alcohol after stressful situations is far greater, according to Swedish research.

Research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden is shedding new light on the long know fact that the children of alcoholics are 50% more likely to have a drink problem in the future.

The study is published in the journal Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behaviour. 

Anna Soderpalm Gordh led the research for the study with involved 58 healthy people who were divided into two groups.  One group was for individuals who came from a family with a drink problem and the other from a family with no history of drinking related problems.

The two groups were randomly assigned to two experimental situations, one of which was more stressful and involved solving mathematical problems in timed conditions and in public.  The two groups were subsequently allowed to drink alcohol in an experimental consumption test or a placebo, depending on which situation they had been randomly assigned to do.

‘The results show that people with parents who have a history of alcohol abuse drink more than others when exposed to stress,’ Soderpalm Gordh says.

People who consume large quantities of alcohol every time they drink run a higher risk of developing a dependency in the future.

‘If alcohol relaxes you when you’re stressed, then you should try to find other ways of calming yourself down, relaxation, exercises for example’ says Soderpalm Gordh.