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Temperament and resilience of children of alcohol dependent individuals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

C. Thanikachalam ,
A. Dhandapani ,
S. Choudhury ,
A. Sankaran  and
E. Subramaniam
C. Thanikachalam*
Affiliation:
Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Psychiatry, Pondicherry, India
A. Dhandapani
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Psychiatry, Bangalore, India
S. Choudhury
Affiliation:
Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Psychiatry, Pondicherry, India
A. Sankaran
Affiliation:
Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Psychiatry, Pondicherry, India
E. Subramaniam
Affiliation:
Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Psychiatry, Pondicherry, India
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Introduction

Children of alcohol dependent individuals are affected by disturbed parent-child relationship and exhibit externalizing symptoms, arrhythmicity, negative mood and low persistence.

Objectives

To assess the temperament and resilience of children of alcohol dependent individuals and to study their relationship with the father's severity and problems of alcohol intake.

Aims

To assess the psychological profile of children of alcohol dependent individuals.

Methods

Cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary care centre from January to August 2015. Severity of alcohol dependence in father and problems related to it was assessed using ‘short alcohol dependence data’ and ‘alcohol problems questionnaire’; the temperament and resilience of their children (n = 31) was assessed using ‘temperament measurement schedule’ and ‘strengths and difficulties questionnaire’ respectively.

Results

The sample comprised of 48% boys and 52% girls with mean age (SD) of 9.32 (3.02) years. Eighty-one percent belonged to lower socioeconomic status. Their fathers’ mean age (SD) was 37.13(4.9) years and duration of alcohol dependence being 16.32 (5.7) years, average use/day being 19.19 (14.9) units with moderate (45.2%) to high (41.9%) dependence. Significant association was observed between severity of alcohol dependence and temperamental domain-threshold of responsiveness (χ2 = 17.272, P value = 0.002) (Fig. 1). The average units of alcohol consumed/day were a significant predictor for the presence of emotional problems in the child (OR = 30.12; 95%CI 1.33–677.86).

Conclusion

There's a significant association between father's alcohol use and child's psychopathology which indicates the need for preventive and curative mental health measures.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
EV306
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 33 , Issue S1: Abstracts of the 24th European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2016 , pp. S360 - S361
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2016

Fig. 1 Significant correlation between alcohol problems in father and child's temperament and resilience (*P < 0.05).

Figure 0

Fig. 1 Significant correlation between alcohol problems in father and child's temperament and resilience (*P < 0.05).

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