An alcoholic relative can permanently scar a child. Not only emotionally but genetically. Treatment and support groups offer help but something has to change. Also, the child of an alcoholic has many obstacles in his way. There is the fact that the child grows up around alcohol and assumes its O.K., and also there are genetic influences that can come up. As Eleanor Agnew stated in her book My Mama's Waltz, written with Sharon Robideaux, "Children of alcoholics may have a genetic predisposition for alcoholism" (9). .
Firstly, the person's genes affect the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic. There are some specific genes that scientists have identified that protect against heavy drinking. These genes make it unpleasant to have a lot of alcohol in your system. It makes you get nauseous easier and makes you feel uneasy. Asians are particularly prevalent with these genes. Native Americans, who are known for heavy alcoholism, do not have these genes (Genetic Influences on Alcohol Drinking and Alcoholism).
Being the spawn of an alcoholic, children of alcoholics (COAs) have a much higher chance of becoming an alcoholic. According to Judith Sexias and Geraldine Youcha in their book, Drugs, Alcohol, and Your Children, "sons of alcoholics were four times more likely to become alcoholic than sons of nonalcoholics, even if they had been separated from their alcoholic parents and reared by nonrelatives who did not drink excessively" (142). This obviously indicates that the alcoholic's household is not the entire reason for alcoholism at a later age. There has to be some kind of genetic link that causes the COA to act so much like their biological parent.
Genetics is not the only reason that COAs are so much more likely to develop alcoholism. Having alcoholic parents can also influence you to become an alcoholic later in life. Not only that, but alcoholism has been proven to be connected with many other family problems.
