This study uses the 1988 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data to ex
amine the effects of both heavy and problem drinking as well as moderate or
light parental alcohol use on children's behaviour problems. The analysis
is formulated within Becker's household production function framework. The
production of child behavioural health is estimated using items from the Be
havior problems Index, a battery of 32 questions about behaviour problems w
hich is derived from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), a widely-used par
ent report instrument. Measures of parents' alcohol consumption are constru
cted from the NHIS Alcohol Supplement that was administered to one randomly
selected adult in each household in 1988. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and
two-stage least squares (TSLS) results are presented. The results provide
consistent evidence that parental alcohol use is an input with negative mar
ginal product in the production of child behavioural health, regardless of
which parent drinks. The magnitude of the effect is generally larger in the
TSLS specification. There is also strong evidence of relationships between
some family structure variables and child behavioural health and between p
arental physical health and child behavioural health. Copyright (C) 1999 Jo
hn Whey & Sons, Ltd.