title: Screening test for identifying adolescents adversely affected by a parental drinking problem.
abstract: It is believed that 28 million children nationally are affected adversely by parental alcoholism. To help them, we must identify them. A screening tool was developed and tested to identify adolescents experiencing difficulties because of a parents's drinking problem. The single question, "Has the drinking of either parent created any problem for you?", was given in a medical screening inventory at a teenage clinic. This was followed by an eight-question semistructured interview. Of the 37 patients screened, 57% had high interview scores, suggesting that a parent's drinking had created a problem for them. Their substantiating information was consistent with the literature describing the effects of alcoholics on their children. In contrast, those with low or medium scores consistently reported no problem because of a parent's drinking. High scorers had nearly twice as many somatic symptoms and health concerns as those not reporting a problem with parental drinking. Based on the high percentage of adolescents adversely affected by a parental drinking problem and the patients' responsiveness to specific direct questions, this type of semistructured interview may be useful as a teenage intake interview in a variety of settings. Such screening could allow early referral and interventions to treat the family in which there is alcohol abuse, this promoting healthier psychosocial development. This might also decrease the adolescent's risk of abusing alcohol. Such screening may help the physician to place vague, somatic complaints in a more meaningful perspective. Our method is a quick, brief screen for a common but easily overlooked, potentially serious family problem.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism; D002669:Child Welfare; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000209:etiology*