Are mothers' alcohol problems associated with different difficulties for sons and daughters?

Details

The study used propensity score (PS) matching to investigate the relationship between maternal alcohol abuse (AA) or alcohol dependence (AD), defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria, and three child outcomes. These were child behavior problems and two aspects of the home environment—cognitive stimulation and emotional support—measured with the Home Observation and Measurement of the Environment-Short Form.

This observational cohort study included 2,193 children, 49% of whom were female, whose mothers were drawn from the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Children were stratified by gender and matched on their mothers' propensity to exhibit AA or AD.

After matching, sons of mothers with AA/AD had higher behavior problem scores in the matched comparisons (p ≤ .05). Daughters of mothers with AA/AD lived in homes with significantly less emotional support (p ≤ .05) and cognitive stimulation (p ≤ .005).

The results were robust to alternative specifications of the PS regressions.

The authors concluded that the findings support policies aimed at reducing AA and AD among young adult women with children.

They also suggested that school counselors and mental health providers encountering young boys with elevated behavior problems should consider maternal AA/AD as one possible causal factor. This was the authors' proposed interpretation of the PS-matched results, rather than a demonstration of causation.

The authors called for future research to understand the trajectories of these outcomes and their sequelae over children's life cycles, and to develop better methods for identifying and intervening with at-risk children of both genders and their mothers.