Of note, maternal AUD – whether she was the only affected parent or was one of two affected parents, increased the odds of sexual assault for children of both races and for White subjects the odds ratios were statistically different, from father-only (but not dual- parent AUD). Fleming and colleagues (1997) found that the risk of extra-familial child sexual abuse increased when the mother was affected by AUD. Again, the specific mechanism between the two is unclear, although it must be noted that children in COGA who had a parent (or parents) with AUD were more likely to reside most or all of the time with their mother (if they did not grow up in a dual-parent household) than with their biological father (10.4% versus 2.5% of the sample, respectively). The increased incidence of sexual assault among offspring of mothers with AUD may simply be due to the increased likelihood that a mother with AUD would be caring for offspring rather than a father with AUD caring for offspring.
