Delinquency and aggression have also been linked to parental problem drinking (Hussong, Huang, Curran, Chassin, & Zucker, 2010; Marmorstein, Iacono, & McGue, 2009). Studies show that children who had three or more relatives with an alcohol use disorder scored higher on attention and delinquent behavioral issues (Barnow et al., 2002). Obot and Anthony (2004) found that adolescents who lived with an alcohol dependent parent had more delinquency and aggression problems than those who did not live with an alcohol dependent parent. Similarly, Marmorstein and colleagues (2009) showed that parental problem drinking was linked to an increased risk of adolescent externalizing behaviors (e.g., ODD, antisocial behavior, and substance use) in their community sample of adolescents. Further, Hussong and colleagues (2010) found that COAs were at greater risk for externalizing symptoms in comparison to non-COAs, particularly when parents had a lifetime diagnosis of alcoholism. Taken together, the extant research suggests that parental problem drinking has adverse implications for adolescent substance use and externalizing behaviors (Hussong et al., 2010; Ohannessian, 2012).
