Temperament and behavioral problems among infants in alcoholic families

This study examined the association between paternal alcoholism and 12-mont h infant temperament and 18-month behavior problems. The role of associated parental psychopathology and maternal drinking in exacerbating risk for ma ladaptive behavioral outcomes was also examined. Participants were 213 fami lies (102 control families, 94 paternal alcoholic families, and 17 families with alcoholic fathers and heavy drinking mothers) who were assessed when their child was 12 months old and reassessed again when their child was 18 months old. Infants of alcoholics displayed marginally more stubborn/persis tent temperaments at 12 months of age, but significantly more internalizing problems at 18 months. Analyses suggested that internalizing problems in t he infants of alcoholics could be attributed to the paternal depression con comitant with paternal alcoholism. In addition, an interaction was observed , indicating that paternal alcohol problems predicted 18-month externalizin g problems among families with low maternal depression, but not among famil ies with high maternal depression. Children of depressed mothers exhibited uniformly higher externalizing scores, but were not further impacted by pat ernal alcohol problems. However, children of nondepressed mothers were adve rsely affected by fathers' drinking as reflected by higher externalizing be havior scores. The results highlight the necessity of addressing the overal l contextual risks that occur with paternal alcoholism in studies of the de velopment of children in alcoholic families.