Teen Alcoholism Rooted in Childhood Experiences Like Divorce

I awoke this morning to read my google alerts about marriage and divorce, and found the headline above: "Teen alcoholism rooted in childhood experiences like divorce". Click the title to read the full article.

The article goes on to say that through a phone survey of over 3,600 Americans between the ages of 18 and 39, they found a link between negative childhood experiences, such as abuse and parental divorce, and teen alcoholism.

This is no surprise to me. People are trying to cope with negative feelings, including sadness, anger, and confusion, and often they end up coping in self-destructive ways. Some would read this and think that there must be a third variable, a variable that links to divorce that also links to teen alcoholism, and they might be right. I don't believe that it is divorce itself that is so traumatic for youth but all of the life changes and accompanying messages from friends and family that surround divorce that often prove to be traumatic. But the fact remains that divorce and such self-destructive behavior patterns as teen alcoholism are linked. The work we do is needed, and this study is just one more piece of evidence pointing to this need.

This is not to say that parental divorce means that a child is doomed, but instead that that a child of divorce is at higher risk than others. We can help these children if we find out what their needs are, and then meet them. Building on the experience of those who have helped children of loss in the past, we see that children can be protected, by showing them that they are not alone, teaching them how to handle negative feelings in healthy ways and helping them understand what is happening to their families. These are the central messages of peer support groups such as Banana Splits, Rainbows, and Divorce Care for Kids.

We have to be careful in looking at correlational studies, because if we assume a causal relationship where there isn't one, we won't get the results we expect by treating the supposed cause. However, when dealing with divorce and other negative life experiences, we can't run true cause and effect studies because they would be unethical. (We can't say, "Let all the parents of kids in this group divorce whil all of the children with parents in the other group stay together. Then we'll see what happens and note the difference between the groups.") Of course, that would be absurd. But we can do our best using correlational studies, and with compassion and care, we can find out what is happening in the hearts and minds of these kids and meet their needs. That is what the authors of the divorce support groups have done. It's not as scientific, but it is common sense and because we've seen the outcomes, we know that what we are doing is a good thing.