Alcohol Consumption Frequency of Parents and Stress Status of Their Children: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2016)

Parents' drinking, childhood hangover? Parental alcohol use, subjective health complaints and perceived stress among Swedish adolescents aged 10-18 years

BACKGROUND

Alcohol abuse is not only harmful to the consumer but may also negatively impact individuals in the drinker's social environment. Alcohol's harm to others is vital to consider when calculating the true societal cost of alcohol use. Children of parents who have alcohol use disorder tend to have an elevated risk of negative outcomes regarding, e.g., health, education, and social relationships. Research on the general youth population has established a link between parental drinking and offspring alcohol use. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding other outcomes, such as health. The current study aimed to investigate the associations between parental drinking and children's psychological and somatic complaints, and perceived stress.

METHODS

Data were derived from a nationally representative sample, obtained from the 2010 Swedish Level-of-Living survey (LNU). Parents and adolescents (ages 10-18) living in the same households were interviewed independently. The final study sample included 909 adolescents from 629 households. The three outcomes, psychological and somatic complaints and perceived stress, were derived from adolescents' self-reports. Parents' self-reports of alcohol use, both frequency and quantity, were used to categorise adolescents as having abstaining, low-consuming, moderate-drinking, or heavy-drinking parents. Control variables included adolescents' gender, age, family structure, and household socioeconomic status. Linear and binary logistic regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Parental heavy drinking was more common among adolescents living in more socioeconomically advantaged households and among adolescents living with two custodial parents or in reconstituted families. Adolescents with heavy-drinking parents reported higher levels of psychological and somatic complaints and had an increased likelihood of reporting stress, compared with those having moderate-drinking parents. These associations remained statistically significant when adjusting for all control variables.

CONCLUSION

The current study's results show that parental alcohol consumption is associated with poorer offspring adolescent health. Public health policies that aim to reduce parental drinking or provide support to these adolescents may be beneficial. Further studies investigating the health-related outcomes among young people living with heavy-drinking parents in the general population are needed to gain more knowledge about these individuals and to implement adequate public health measures.

Residence with a Person Who Used Substances and Childhood Anxiety and Depression: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the 2019 National Health Interview Survey

Background: Children who live with a parent with a substance use disorder (SUD) are more likely to experience adverse health outcomes, including mental health disorders. We assessed whether residing with anyone who used substances was associated with children’s anxiety and/or depression, and whether these associations differed by the children’s age or sex. Methods: We analyzed nationally representative cross-sectional data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey (n = 6642). The associations between ever residing with someone who used substances and caregiver-reported children’s anxiety and depression frequency (never/a few times a year/monthly/weekly/daily) were estimated using multinomial logistic regression models, adjusted for children’s age, children’s sex, children’s race/ethnicity, annual household income, and highest educational attainment by an adult in the household. We assessed whether the associations differed based on the children’s age (5–11/12–17 years) or sex. Results: Children who had resided with someone who used substances were more likely to be reported by their caregiver as having daily anxiety (risk ratio (RR) = 2.84; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.04, 3.95; referent = never anxious) and daily depression (RR = 3.35; 95% CI = 1.98, 5.67; referent = never depressed). Associations with more frequent anxiety were stronger among adolescents than younger children. Associations between residing with someone who used substances and depression frequency differed based on children’s age and sex. Conclusions: Our results suggest that residing with someone who used substances is associated with children’s anxiety and depression. Our findings can help inform screening and treatment efforts for anxiety and depression among children, as well as for the person using substances.