This study also had a number of considerable strengths. It is the first study to examine the main and interactive effects of childhood or adolescent parental divorce/separation and parental history of alcohol problems on offspring lifetime alcohol dependence using a large, nationally representative sample where the respondents were all assessed using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for lifetime alcohol dependence. The research builds on prior findings related to the effects of parental divorce/separation on lifetime alcohol dependence by examining the effects of parental divorce/separation after controlling for parental history of alcohol and other problems in order to clearly identify the effects of childhood or adolescent parental divorce/separation.
