Family Roles in Homes With Alcohol-Dependent Parents: An Evidence-Based Review
Abstract
The behavioral health care field has seen attempts to understand the functioning of families in which a parent is dependent on alcohol as a set of roles into which the other family members fall. The most popular of these classifications taught in the United States includes five roles (enabler, hero, lost child, mascot, and scapegoat) that are used to conceptualize families and individuals in treatment and support group settings, as well as in popular self-help literature. Attempts to operationalize and measure these roles have, however, been fraught with difficulties. The resulting research base has seen conflicting evidence for the support of such roles, as well as little work on diverse families. The evidence against such well-defined family roles, the questions surrounding their development, and the difficulties of applying such constructs in real-life situations (with numerous confounding factors and unknown associated conditions) may indicate that their clinical utility does not win out over the problems inherent with this manner of classification.
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These roles have been criticized for being too strict.
“These roles have been criticized for being too strict (Vernig, 2011).”
From “I Feel It In My Heart When My Parents Fight”: Experiences of 7–9-Year-Old Children of Alcoholics (2018) · cites this paper as Vernig, 2011
The current study on 7-9 years old COA has confirmed the same sorts of COA behavior which adult COA have recalled that they have previously displayed.
“Thus the current study on 7–9 years old COA, has confirmed the same sorts of COA behavior which adult COA have recalled that they have previously displayed (Black, 2001; Wegscheider-Cruse, 1989; Vernig, 2011).”
From “I Feel It In My Heart When My Parents Fight”: Experiences of 7–9-Year-Old Children of Alcoholics (2018) · cites this paper as Vernig, 2011
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“This is sometimes called parentification (Hedges, 2012; Vernig, 2011).”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Vernig, P. M.
- Affiliations
- Suffolk University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Vernig, Peter M.
- Venue
- Substance Use & Misuse
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2010-08-24
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 535-542
- ISSN
- 1082-6084 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-2491
- OpenAlex
- W2030233172
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Substance Use & Misuse (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Keywords
- family roles, alcoholism, family functioning, clinical utility, diverse families
- MeSH terms
- Alcoholism, Child, Family Relations, Humans, Parents, Social Environment, Stress, Psychological
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