Childhood experiences of parental physical violence for alcoholic women as compared with a randomly selected household sample of women

Abstract

The effects of childhood experiences of parental violence on the development of alcoholism in women were examined by comparing a sample of 45 alcoholic women selected from local treatment agencies and Alcoholics Anonymous groups with 40 nonalcoholic women selected randomly from the population. Two-hour person-to-person interview schedules were administered to both samples. The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) assessed both father-to-daughter and mother-to-daughter relationships. Type of sample was regressed on each CTS subscale, controlling for presence of parental alcoholism, number of childhood changes in family structure, present age of respondent, and present income source. Alcoholic women were found to have higher father-to-daughter negative verbal interaction, moderate violence, and serious violence than household women. Father-to-daughter positive verbal interaction was found unrelated to membership in the alcoholism sample. None of the mother-to-daughter subscales were found to predict membership in the alcoholism sample.