Emotions presented by children in alcoholic families

Introduction. Healthy normal families keep the balance between the openness towards family members and other people. They have
resources of goodwill, which is given to each other, but also radiates outside the family. However, these emotions are disturbed in alcoholic
family environment. It’s difficult to understand these emotions for people standing outside such families as well as their members.

Aim of the study. The objective of this work was an attempt to recognise and compare emotions presented by children in alcoholic families
with those in normal families.

Material and methods. The study group comprised 148 children aged between 13 and 16 from alcoholic families (63 children), and 85
children from normal healthy family environment were the control group. The searches were conducting in Nowy Targ and surroundings
from October 2007 to March 2008. The study used a validated questionnaire form based on the survey questionnaire methodology. Both,
parents and children gave their consent to participate in the study.

Results and conclusions. Children raised in alcoholic families felt responsible for their parents’ addiction and felt guilty. As far as happiness
and safety were concerned, children from alcoholic environment presented these emotions significantly less frequently than children from
normal homes. They also believed their parents attitude wasn’t exemplary.