Alcohol-related problems within the family and global functioning of the children: a population-based study

We carried out a population-based prevalence study to assess the association between the presence of alcohol-related problems within the family and the risk of disorders in the children's global functioning level. We enrolled 394 children attending nursery, primary and secondary schools and their parents living in two municipalities in Central Italy. Alcohol-related problems within the family were reported by registered records obtained from general practitioners and teachers, who were considered as preference raters. The children's level of functioning was assessed by teachers, who attributed to each school child a score according to the Children Global Assessment Scale (CGAS). The number of reports of alcohol-related problems within the family and the CGAS scores were considered, respectively, as independent and dependent variables in a multiple logistic regression model for ordinal outcome variables. The children's sex and age, and the age of their parents, the duration of the parents' education and family size were considered as covariates. We found a strong association between a poor level of functioning in the children in the social environment and alcohol-related problems within the family. The prevalence odds ratio (and 95% confidence interval) decreased from 0.5 (range 0.2-1.3) for children whose families were reported by one rater to 0.4 (range 0.2-0.8) for children whose families were reported by two raters, the non-reported families being the reference category, suggesting that the level of functioning of the child decreased as reports of alcohol-related problems in the family increased.