Home interactions of high and low antisocial male alcoholics and their families

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the naturalistic intera ctions of two alcoholism subgroups during home dinnertime conversations. Me thod: Dinnertime conversations of 96 alcoholic and 47 control families were audiotaped and subsequently assessed via a multicomponent coding system in volving trained raters who were blind to psychiatric status of participatin g families. To examine potentially important alcoholism types, two subgroup s were formed on the basis of the male alcoholic's level of antisociality. Results: Across all groups, mothers' rate of communication to children was greater than fathers' to children for all communication variables; similarl y, children's rare of communication to mothers exceeded their rate to fathe rs across all communication variables. Most interesting, however, was the f inding that families of alcoholics reflecting higher levels of antisocialit y expressed lower levels of positivity, disagree ment and instrumentality t han did families of alcoholics who exhibited lower levels of antisociality. Conclusions: Although expectations regarding generational differences acro ss groups were confirmed, Findings regarding the two alcoholism subgroups w ere opposite to expectations; that is, we had hypothesized that high antiso cial alcoholics and their families would exhibit more overtly disruptive be havior than low antisocial alcoholics and their families. The interpretatio n and implication of these findings were discussed in terms of the importan ce and impact of the observational setting: in particular, that the home se tting may allow for certain family coping strategies (e.g., disengagement) more so than a task-structured, laboratory setting.