While risks for early and problem substance use associated with parental alcoholism are widely documented, not all COAs initiate use at early ages, and for those offspring who show signs of problem use, many “mature out” during adulthood (Labouvie, 1996; Maisto et al., 2002). Furthermore, COAs experience a range of adversities that often follow from but are not exclusive to parental alcoholism, and many such “non-specific” risks have considerable consequences (Jacob and Johnson, 1997). Parental separation or divorce provides a strong example as alcoholic parents are at increased risk of marital dissolution (Waldron et al., 2013) and compared to children from intact married families, children of divorce also report earlier use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis (Hoffman and Su, 1998; Short, 1998), heavier use of these substances (Doherty and Needle, 1991; Hoffman, 1995; Needle et al., 1990), and higher rates of problem use (Fergusson et al., 1994; Hoffman and Johnson, 1998).
