Children of Alcoholics Screening Test: internal consistency, factor structure, and relationship to measures of family environment

The children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) and the Family Environment Scale were administered to 307 adults (M age = 27.6 years, 81% female, 89% White). Internal reliability estimates of the CAST were high (r = .98). Factor analysis of the CAST resulted in a four-factor solution, which accounted for 67% of the variability-Parental Problem Drinking, Personal Distress, Responsibility for Parental Drinking, and Alcoholic Mother. A canonical correlation between measures of family environment and the CAST factors showed that higher levels of conflict and lower levels of cohesion and expressiveness were stronger predictors of Personal Distress in the child than of Parental Drinking Behavior. The results suggest that distress in children of alcoholics may be more a function of an impaired family than of parental drinking behavior itself.