You can find a support group meeting in your area or online meetings for both Al-Anon and ACOA. Tony’s list has been adopted as part of the Adult Children of Alcoholics World Service Organization’s official literature and is a basis for the article, “The Problem,” published on the group’s website. If you’re a child of an alcoholic, that doesn’t mean that everything on this list will apply to you.
Identifying adult children of alcoholics: methodological review and a comparison of the CAST-6 with other methods
You are at risk for having the same problems as your parents. Maybe they haven’t developed yet, or adult children of alcoholics screening quiz maybe you are in denial. The best way to ensure the wellbeing of those you love is to seek help. If you grew up in an alcoholic home, you may have developed any combination of the following challenges. If you think you may exhibit symptoms of these mental illnesses, please see a therapist. If you grew up with a parent who drank too much, you may be dealing with long-term effects you never realized.
- You are at risk for having the same problems as your parents.
- Take this quiz and see just how much their drinking has affected your adult life.
- If one or both of your parents had a drinking problem while you were growing up, you are an Adult Child Of an Alcoholic (ACOA).
- Though because the experiences have common features, it’s likely you will recognize at least a few items on Dr. Jan’s list.
- Like it or not, our parents have an impact on our behavior in ways that we may not even realize.
- We welcome you to join us to see if this program is right for you.
- The best place you can seek help is through therapy and working with a dedicated mental health professional.
The CAST-6 is confirmed as a useful brief screening measure. It was shown to be internally reliable, have good retest reliability and to agree well with other measures. Using a face to face interview as the comparison standard, however, a number of single questions performed equally as well as the CAST-6 and other more complex methods. Many adult children find that seeking professional treatment or counseling for insight into their feelings, behaviors, and struggles helps them achieve greater awareness of how their childhood shaped who they are today.
You’ll likely identify with these traits if you grew up around alcoholism
Those of us who have lived with this disease as children sometimes have problems which the Al‑Anon program can help us to resolve. Support the creation of new tools for the entire mental health community. Others have found help through mutual support groups such as Al-Anon Family Groups or Adult Children of Alcoholics.
We welcome you to join us to see if this program is right for you. Find an ACA meeting in your area or online to learn more. There are no membership dues or fees, and no requirements except a desire to recover from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family.
World Service Organization
Methods of identifying adult children of alcoholics are described and their psychometric properties are reviewed. These methods include self-report single questions and questionnaires and interview schedules. The CAST-6, a shortened version of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, is compared with a variety of these methods.
ACA Is… – bundle of 10 tri-folds
- If you grew up in a household that drank a lot, you may need to identify the signs of alcoholism, and how to fix it.
- Others have found help through mutual support groups such as Al-Anon Family Groups or Adult Children of Alcoholics.
- Like it or not, our parents have an impact on our behavior in ways that we may not even realize.
- Includes The Laundry List, other types of dysfunctional families.
- Take this quiz and see just how much their drinking has affected your adult life.
- Discusses what an Adult Child is and lists 25 questions to help someone identify whether they suffer from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family.
- The CAST-6 is confirmed as a useful brief screening measure.
If you grew up with a parent who showed these signs, you are likely the child of an alcoholic. You can live a happy, healthy life especially if you seek out help from a therapist. Through support groups and therapy, you do not have to be defined as the adult child of an alcoholic. Children of alcoholics often have to deny their feelings of sadness, fear, and anger in order to survive. Since unresolved feelings will always surface eventually, they often manifest during adulthood.
Related Tools
Many children of alcoholics develop similar characteristics and personality traits. In her 1983 landmark book, “Adult Children of Alcoholics,” the late Janet G. Woititz, Ed.D, outlined 13 of them.2 “Dr. Jan” (as she was known) was a best-selling author, lecturer, and counselor who was also married to an alcoholic. Discusses what an Adult Child is and lists 25 questions to help someone identify whether they suffer from the effects of growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family. Includes The Laundry List, other types of dysfunctional families. This can also happen with things like pills and other drugs.
Cross Talk Booklet
Perhaps you didn’t know they were alcoholics, or have denied it for a long time, but accepting your parent’s flaws is the first step to recovery. Download, print, and share unlimited copies of custom worksheets. The linked site contains information that has been created, published, maintained by another organization. ACA WSO is not responsible for,nor are we endorsing this content.