ARE ADULT CHILDREN OF DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES WITH ALCOHOLISM DIFFERENT FROM ADULT CHILDREN OF DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES WITHOUT ALCOHOLISM - ALOOK AT COMMITTED, INTIMATE-RELATIONSHIPS

Investigating the validity of classifying adult children of dysfunctio nal families with alcoholism (ACDFAs) as a unique population, this stu dy compared ACDFAs with adult children of dysfunctional families witho ut alcoholism (ACDFs) and adult children of functional families (ACFFs ) on current relationship satisfaction. Participants (N = 126) were fr om a community sample. No significant difference between the ACDFAs an d the ACDFs was found; however, both ACDFAs and ACDFs displayed signif icantly more difficulty with problem-solving communication than the AC FFs. Regression results indicated that dysfunction in the family of or igin is significantly related to global distress and difficulties with problem-solving communication in current intimate relationships. Resu lts do not lend support to the utility of classifying ACDFAs as a uniq ue population.