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Abstract
The present study compared the psychosocial functioning of children whose fathers primarily abused illicit drugs other than alcohol (n = 51) to children from a demographically matched sample of families whose fathers abused alcohol (n = 51). Children with drug‐abusing (DA) fathers exhibited significantly more negative child behaviors on a standardized child‐rating scale than did children from homes with alcohol‐abusing fathers. In addition, a significantly greater proportion of children with DA fathers met clinical cutoffs indicative of psychosocial impairment (n = 23; 45%) than did children whose fathers abused alcohol (n = 5; 10%). Mediation analyses indicated that severity of drug, legal, medical, employment, and family problems partially mediated the relationship between type of family (i.e., families with fathers who had an alcohol problem versus families with fathers who had a drug problem) and children's psychosocial adjustment.
Notes
aAn algorithm [ from Ref. (Citation[54])] was used to determine male partner's primary drug of abuse, with decisions based on combinations of his self‐report data, diagnostic information, prior treatment information, and frequency of use for each drug more than 90 days and 12 months before treatment. A dyad was classified as an alcoholic couple if the male partner's primary drug was alcohol. Conversely, dyads in which male partners primarily abused other psychoactive substances were classified as drug‐abusing couples.