A major, multi-decade study of 7,000 Danish adults found that children of alcoholics were at higher risk for disorder than children whose parents did not have such problems. The association was higher for daughters of alcoholics than for their sons.
The study from the University of Copenhagen was one of the few to track a large number of people and their children for over 50 years. The average parent in the study was born between 1959 and 1961.
Dr. Erik Mortenson and his colleagues looked only for genetic factors as a link to alcoholism, and took out other ones, such as social status and income levels.
"This new research from Denmark supports existing research that indicates that genetic factors are significant," said Mike Cohan of Recovery Now TV. "Recovering alcoholics who plan to have children need to be aware of this issue and the fact that their children may be more likely to need alcoholism treatment."
This study appears in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
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