Anxiety, depression, self-esteem among children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic parents

Children of alcoholics (COAs) face risks of behavioral problems during childhood and mental health problems in adult life. Identifying these problems at the earliest can significantly reduce the problems in future.

To compare the anxiety, depression, and self-esteem between COA and non-COA parents.

A cross-sectional comparative survey research design was adopted for the present study. The study was conducted at selected government high school located in Bangalore urban.

The simple random sampling technique was used. A total of 200 children comprising 100 children of each alcoholic parents and nonalcoholic were recruited for the study. A screening test (modified) was used for identifying COA. Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to assess anxiety, depression, and self-esteem, respectively.

Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software package (version 23).

The results show that there is statistically significant difference between COA and non-COA group with regard to anxiety, depression, self-esteem, separation anxiety, social phobia, obsessive compulsive problems, and physical injury.

The study concludes that COAs are having higher rate of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem compared with children of nonalcoholics.