Finally, assuming there is an association between the density of alcohol problems in the family and offspring behavior in childhood, research on other mediators and moderators of this association is also needed. Parent alcohol use and mental health problems, known to affect child adjustment, may partially reflect transgenerational alcoholism and mediate the association between density of alcohol problems and child behavior. Along these lines, parental antisociality and depression have helped to explain the relation between parent alcohol problems and offspring externalizing behavior in community samples of children and adolescents (Chassin et al., 1991; El-Sheikh and Flanagan, 2001). Assortative mating among alcoholics (Merikangas and Brunetto, 1996) also increases the likelihood of such psychopathology in the family. Each of these familial adversities, including tendencies toward marital disruption and lower education, may mediate the effects of heavy familial loading for alcoholism (Zucker, 2006).
