Typology of parents with alcohol consumption: insights from cluster analysis on psychopathology and parenting...

Studies have highlighted the negative impact of parental drinking on offspring, but the perception of drinking parents about their parenting role remains poorly explored. This study assessed the parental sense of competence among individuals with alcohol consumption and examined the relationship with parental guilt, burnout, and psychopathological symptoms.

The sample was composed of 759 individuals who had at least one child aged below 18 living at home. Participants answered questionnaires measuring alcohol consumption, parental sense of competence, parental burnout and guilt, and psychopathological symptoms (anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD).

An analysis comparing participants having low/no alcohol consumption with those having higher consumption showed that parents of the latter group had lower scores of perceived parental competence, higher scores of parental guilt and burnout, and higher levels of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. A cluster analysis was performed in the subsample with higher alcohol consumption. This identified a cluster ("High") with participants scoring well above the mean in psychopathology, while another cluster ("Low") included individuals scoring below the mean. The "High" cluster, compared to the "Low" cluster, exhibited lower scores in sense of competence, higher burnout and guilt, and higher alcohol use, with large effect sizes.

In conclusion, parents with higher alcohol consumption perceived themselves as less competent and experienced more significant mental health challenges. However, among those parents, cluster analysis identified one group with higher psychopathology and negative parenting experiences coexisting with another group having lower psychopathology and more positive parenting experiences, suggesting a contrasted typology in parents with higher alcohol consumption.