A Comparative Study of the Attitudes of Alcoholic Veterans and Nonalcoholic Veterans toward Child Rearing Practices and Family Life

Abstract

To compare parental attitudes of alcoholics and nonalcoholics a parental attitude questionnaire (PARI-Q4) was administered to a stratified sample of alcoholic veterans in a VA alcohol treatment program and to nonalcoholic male veterans employed at the VAMC. The f-test was used to test equality between samples. Pearson's r was used to correlate for age on all scales. ANOVA methods were used to correlate race, social class, and fatherhood variables. Significant differences between the groups appeared on six scales, “Encouraging Verbalization,” “Avoiding Harsh Punishment,” “Encouraging Emotional Expression,” “Irresponsibility of Father,” “Inconsiderate-ness of Wife,” and “Tolerating Aggression.” No significant differences regarding fatherhood, race, age or social class were found. Since alcoholism was the only significant variable found in this study it points to the need for intervention through teaching parental skills to alcoholics to decrease the risk of their children becoming alcoholics.