Delaware Researcher Studies Parental Alcoholism, Child Substance Abuse

The University of Delaware (UD) launched a new website this week for its Adolescent Adjustment Project (AAP), a UD research endeavor that is exploring the links between parental alcoholism and child substance abuse.

The AAP was initiated in the spring of 2006 by Christine Ohannessian, an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. Ohannessian and her team of researchers are working on a longitudinal study (study conducted over time) that is following a group of adolescents as they grow into young adulthood. According to Ohannessian, the primary question that she and her team are attempting to answer is: "Why do some children of alcoholic parents turn out to be well adjusted, whereas others do not?"

Study participants include approximately 1,100 adolescents and their parents. Families began participating when the youth were in 9th or 10th grade, and researchers have been following the growth of each adolescent for the past four years. The research team has been attempting to determine whether individual characteristics (for example, coping abilities or sense of self-worth) and/or the environment (for example, family relationships, peer relationships and involvement in extracurricular activities) affect the relationship between parental alcohol abuse and adolescent adjustment.

Ohannessian commented on her decision to study adolescents: "The examination of this age group is critical since adolescence is the time when both the initiation of substance use and a dramatic rise in the prevalence of psychological problems occurs."

(Source: www.udel.edu)

posted by Aspen Education Group @ 8:11 AM