Heavy Drinking Among Parents
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Headline

Heavy drinking among fathers declined slightly between 2003 and 2004, with the percentage of fathers who reported heavy drinking at least once per month decreasing from 14 percent to 12 percent. (See Figure 1)

Importance

While heavy drinking among parents is not necessarily indicative of alcohol abuse or alcoholism, parents who binge drink are at a higher risk for alcohol-related disorders than other parents.¹ In addition, heavy drinking can result in intoxication, which is connected to homicides, traffic injuries, and domestic violence,² all of which can have a negative impact on children.

Children of alcoholics are more likely to have academic difficulty than are other students, often because alcoholic parents are less likely to provide the supervision, support and intellectual engagement that their children need to succeed in school.³ In addition, parents who abuse alcohol may be more likely to abuse their children due to lowered inhibitions, sharpened aggressive feelings, decreased frontal lobe functioning (which affects one's ability to deal with unexpected situations), and disrupted neurochemical functions that mediate aggressive behavior, all caused by alcohol abuse.⁴ Research suggests that between 30 and 40 percent of all incest cases involve an alcoholic parent.⁵

According to the Surgeon General, women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should abstain from alcohol because studies show it can have detrimental effects on an unborn fetus, even in the earliest time after conception when a woman may not know that she is pregnant.⁶ The consequences for children who have been exposed to alcohol before birth may last throughout their lifetimes, and include mental retardation, learning disabilities, and serious health problems.⁷ One of the most serious outcomes of maternal prenatal alcohol use is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which involves disorders of the brain, growth retardation, and facial malformations.⁸

While children of alcoholics have a higher risk of developing problems with alcohol abuse than others, environmental factors such as stress level, availability of alcohol, and expectations and behaviors of friends play a large role in determining whether or not a person will develop an alcohol problem.⁹

Trends

Heavy drinking among parents remained relatively stable from 1998 through 2004. During this time period, between 7 and 9 percent of parents reported that they drank heavily (five or more drinks in a row) at least once a month in the past year. About 4 percent of parents drank heavily at least once per week in the past year between 1998 and 2004. (See Table 1)

Between 2003 and 2004, however, heavy drinking among fathers declined. The percentage of fathers who reported heavy drinking at least once per month decreased from 14 percent in 2003 to 12 percent in 2004. Weekly heavy drinking also declined slightly. (See Table 2)

Differences by Gender

Fathers are much more likely than mothers to report heavy drinking in the past year. In 2004, 12 percent of fathers reported heavy drinking at least once a month, compared with 3 percent of mothers. Similarly, in the same year, 6 percent of fathers reported heavy drinking at least once a week, while only 1 percent of mothers reported drinking heavily at least once a week. (See Figure 1)

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Differences by Age

Parents who are ages 45 and over are less likely than younger parents to report monthly heavy drinking. In 2004, 8 percent of fathers ages 45 and older reported monthly heavy drinking, compared with 17 percent of fathers ages 18 to 24. (See Table 2) A similar pattern exists for mothers. In the same year, 2 percent of mothers ages 45 and over reported monthly heavy drinking, compared with 5 percent of mothers ages 18 to 24. (See Table 3) Patterns are less consistent for weekly heavy drinking.

Differences by Education Attainment

Fathers who have a college degree do less heavy drinking. In 2004, 18 percent of fathers without a high school degree reported monthly heavy drinking, compared with 6 percent of fathers who had at least a bachelor's degree. Following the same pattern, 9 percent of fathers without a high school degree reported heavy drinking at least once a week, compared with two percent of fathers who had graduated from college. (See Figure 2) This pattern also exists among mothers.¹⁰ (See Table 3)

Related Indicators

Parental Smoking, Mothers Who Smoke While Pregnant, Parental Symptoms of Depression

State and Local Estimates

None Available

International Estimates

None Available

National Goals

Through its Healthy People 2010 initiative, the federal government has outlined multiple goals related to alcohol consumption and abuse. While none of the goals respond directly to heavy drinking among parents, several of them are related to this issue. Relevant goals include: increasing abstinence from alcohol among pregnant women; reducing the occurrence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS); reducing the proportion of persons engaging in binge drinking; and reducing the proportion of adults who exceed guidelines for low-risk drinking.

More information about these and other goals related to alcohol consumption and abuse is available at: http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/document/html/objectives/16-17.htm (for pregnant women) and http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/document/html/objectives/26-11.htm (for binge drinking)

What Works: Programs and Interventions that May Influence this Indicator

None available at this time.

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Research References

¹National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2001 With Urban and Rural Health Chartbook. Hyattsville, Maryland: 2001, page 36. Available online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus01.pdf

²Ibid.

³Johnson, J. L. & Leff, M. (1999). "Children of substance abusers: Overview of research findings." Pediatrics, 103(5 Supplement), 1085-1099. As found in National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, "Malignant Neglect: Substance Abuse and America's Schools," (2001) page 30. Available online at http://www.casacolumbia.org/Absolutenm/articlefiles/80624.pdf

⁴National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, "No Safe Haven: Children of Substance-Abusing Parents" (1999), page 15. Available online at http://www.casacolumbia.org/Absolutenm/articlefiles/No_Safe_Haven_1_11_99.pdf

⁵Ibid.

⁶United States Department of Health and Human Services. (February 2005). "U.S. Surgeon General Releases Advisory on Alcohol Use in Pregnancy." New Release. http://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/pressreleases/sg02222005.html

⁷National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University,1999.

⁸National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome," Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/

⁹National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes for Health, "FAQ's on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism," Available online at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/FAQs/General-English/

¹⁰Monthly drinking among mothers with a high school degree or less versus mothers with a bachelors degree was only significant at the p=.1 level.

Definition

Data are based on self-reports by parents. Respondents were asked to report how often in the past year they had had at least five alcoholic beverages on one occasion. Those who reported having at least five drinks on one occasion at least 12 times in the past year are considered to have drunk heavily at least once a month, and those who reported drinking at least five drinks on one occasion at least 52 times are considered to have drunk heavily at least once a week in the past year.

Data Source

Original analysis by Child Trends of National Health Interview Survey data, 1998-2004

Raw Data Source

National Health Interview Survey
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm

Date of Next Update

Winter 2007

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