Academic achievement in adolescent children of alcoholics

Objective: The current study tested whether adolescent children of alcoholi cs (COAs) showed poorer academic performance than did demographically match ed controls, and whether such parent alcoholism effects varied as a functio n of heterogeneity within the COA sample. In addition, controlling for pare nt educational attainment, we examined whether relations between parental a lcohol dependence and academic performance could be accounted for by COAs' lower levels of task orientation, heightened levels of environmental stress , lowered levels of family organization and less parental involvement in th eir school activities. Method: A sample of 221 adolescent COAs and 196 demo graphically matched controls (53% boys, mean [+/-SD] age = 12.7 +/- 1.46 ye ars), and their parents, were included in the current study. Adolescents we re selected from a larger 3-year longitudinal study in which participants w ere interviewed three times at annual intervals. Those who were interviewed at Time 3 and who had academic achievement data were included in the curre nt analyses. Demographic information and diagnoses of parental alcoholism w ere collected at Time 1, and data on potential mediators were collected at Time 3. Academic achievement data were collected at Time 3 from school reco rds. Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that COAs received low er school grades than did their non-COA peers (mean = 2.19 +/- 1.08 vs 2.54 +/- 1.01, respectively). COAs with two alcoholic parents (mean = 1.80 +/- 1.17) and COAs with at least one parent diagnosed alcohol dependent (mean = 2.01 +/- 1.01)showed particularly low grades. Parental alcohol dependence was also associated with lower math achievement scores (mean = 48.52 +/- 24 .68 vs 62.47 +/- 26.71). Evidence indicated that adolescents' task orientat ion mediated the relation between parental alcohol dependence and adolescen t grades (indirect effect, t = -2.93, 289 df, p < .01), and between parenta l alcohol dependence and adolescent math achievement (indirect effect, t = -1.99, 194 df, p < .01). Adolescents' life stress did not mediate the relat ions of interest after controlling for task orientation. Conclusions: The c urrent study confirmed that COAs, particularly those whose parents are alco hol dependent as opposed to having a diagnosis of alcohol abuse, achieve re latively lower academic outcomes in comparison to non-COA peers. Adolescent task orientation partially mediated the relations between parent alcohol d ependence and academic achievement, indicating that academic difficulties i n COAs may be partly due to impaired motivation and organization.