Previous studies disagree on whether other parental psychopathology confounds the association between parental drinking and psychosocial functioning among their children [25-28]. The associations seen in the present study cannot be ascribed parental mental distress as it did not act as a confounder: adding this variable to the analysis did not substantially alter associations between parental drinking and school adjustment. Parental psychopathology may be more severe in studies finding such confounding. In addition, a high number of untreated cases in the general population, likely to be included in the present study, occur without severe comorbidity [1].
