Difference in Parenting Style between African American Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Parents

Abstract

This study set out to investigate differences in parenting style to which children of alcoholics (COAs) were subjected as opposed to the children of nonalcoholics (non-COAs) in a sample of 1,000 African American adolescent males aged 13 to 17 living in a Midwestern city. Data were gathered using the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) and the Children's Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (C-SAGA) specifically in its subsections which deal with parent's time spent with the child, discipline in the home, adults as role models, and family rules. Following the Baumrind categorization of parenting style as authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive, a composite index was constructed which discriminated the children between those who were subjected to a more authoritative (strict but warm discipline) parenting style and those who were not. Results showed that the COAs were associated with less favorable outcomes than the non-COAs in every aspect of the comparison. Implications for social service are suggested.