Interpersonal trust, self-disclosure and control in adult children of alcoholics

Personality differences between 39 adult children of alcoholics and 28 control subjects were evaluated using measures of self-disclosure, trust, and control. The former group had higher need for interpersonal control, but no differences between groups were found on trust or self-disclosure. Sex of the alcoholic parent was related to personality functioning. Subjects with alcoholic fathers had higher scores on the control measure, while subjects with alcoholic mothers had lower trust scores. For adult children of alcoholics small but significant correlations were found between distress associated with parental alcoholism and trust (lower) and reported involvement with alcohol (higher). These results provide some support for the hypothesis that the effects of parental alcoholism persist into early adulthood. The differences documented were modest and did not suggest dysfunction in the sample of adult children of alcoholics.