This study indicated that childhood or adolescent parental divorce/separation was significantly related to offspring lifetime alcohol dependence in a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Further, this relationship was found even after controlling for the effect of parental history of alcohol and other emotional and behavioral problems. To our knowledge, this is the first time the influence of childhood or adolescent parental divorce/separation has been demonstrated on adult alcohol outcomes when measured carefully according to DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence.
