The interpersonal and emotional consequences of being an adult child of an alcoholic.

The purpose of this study was to compare adults raised in an alcoholic home (N = 409) with those adults raised in a nonalcoholic home (N = 179) on their perceptions of alcohol-related differences in the home, violence, sexual abuse, communication, and interpersonal differences experienced as adults. The adults who were raised in alcoholic families reported significantly less utilization of interpersonal resources as a child; had significantly more family disruptions characterized by a higher divorce rate and premature parental and sibling death; reported more emotional and psychological problems in adulthood; experienced more physical and sexual abuse as children; and more frequently became alcoholic and married alcoholics when compared to adults raised in nonalcoholic families.

Predictors of psychiatric illness among Navy hospital corpsmen.

Evaluated Recruit Temperament Survey (RTS) responses and aptitude test scores as potential predictors of psychiatric illness among 1,082 Navy hospital corpsmen. Twenty-six RTS items discriminated significantly between those corpsmen who became psychiatric casualties during a 4-year criterion period and those who did not; these items appeared to assess a construct of preservice personal and vocational adjustment. Scores on the aptitude measure were unrelated to illness incidence. The validity of the discriminating RTS items taken in combination for predicting psychiatric hospitalization among corpsmen was .28 with a cross-validity of .22. Implications of these findings for the use of measures such as the RTS in psychiatric screening were discussed.

Reported drinking among posttreatment alcohol abusers: a preliminary report.

Posttreatment drinking behavior and job effectiveness ratings by supervisors are compared at 6, 12, and 24 months follow-up for young (age 25 and younger) and old (age 26 and older) male alcohol abusers admitted to Naval Alcoholism Rehabilitation facilities. Follow-up results indicate that: (1) large percentage of subjects were rated effective at their work following treatment; (2) effective subjects drank significantly less than noneffective subjects; (3) young subjects tended to drink significantly more than old subjects; (4) of those rated effective at their work, young subjects drank more and abstained less than did old subjects; (5) drinking behavior and work effectiveness ratings appear to remain consistent over the three follow-up periods. Some implications and limitations of the present study are discussed.