Relationship of child psychopathology to parental alcoholism and antisocial personality disorder

Objective: To evaluate the contributions of familial factors, including par ental diagnoses of alcoholism and/or antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) , to the risk of developing various child psychiatric diagnoses. Method: Fo ur hundred sixty-three children and their biological parents were interview ed with adult and child versions of the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism. Demographic and psychiatric data were compared acro ss 3 groups of children on the basis of the presence of parental alcoholism and ASPD (no other parental diagnoses were examined). Generalized estimati ng equations analyses allowed the inclusion of multiple children from each family in the analyses. Results: Among offspring, parental alcoholism was a ssociated with increased risks for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder , conduct disorder (CD), and overanxious disorder. Parental alcoholism plus ASPD was associated with increased risk for oppositional defiant disorder. Dysfunctional parenting style was associated with increased risks for CD, alcohol abuse, and marijuana abuse. Low family socioeconomic status was ass ociated with increased risk for CD. Conclusions: Parental diagnoses of alco holism and ASPD were associated with increased risks for a variety of child hood psychiatric disorders, and dysfunctional parenting style was associate d with the diagnoses of CD, alcohol abuse, and marijuana abuse.