One factor that is associated with a substantially increased risk of child sexual abuse, as well as with an increased risk of psychopathology, is having one or two alcohol-dependent parents (Dinwiddie et al. 2000; Nelson et al. 2002). Parental alcoholism also may be associated with a variety of other environmental risk factors, such as impaired parental supervision and parenting. Therefore, it is plausible that an indirect link exists that contributes to the association between parental alcohol dependence histories and the increased risk of psychopathology that is observed in the adult children of alcoholics (see the figure on page 197). Thus, parental alcohol dependence increases the risk of childhood abuse or other trauma for the children, which in turn is associated with an increased risk of later psychiatric disorder and may contribute to risk of alcohol dependence in the children.
