Influence of Parental Alcohol Consumption on Children’s Drinking Behaviour: A Psychoanalytic Assessment
Mgbenkemdi Ejike. H1 & Eze N. E2
Department of Psychology, Enugu State University of Science and Technology
Department of Health and Physical Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology
iamejike@yahoo.co.uk
ABSTRACT
The study investigated the influence of parental alcohol consumption on children’s drinking behavior. Using survey sampling technique, 120 undergraduate students from Faculty of Social Sciences, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) in Agbani metropolis were drawn to participate in the study voluntarily. The Ewing (1982) cage questionnaire was designed to access alcoholism. The cage alcoholism questionnaire was adapted for Nigeria use by Abumiyi (1984) with reliability coefficient of 0.72, hence the instrument was considered valid and reliable. A survey design was used in this study, and chi-square (x2 2×2) contingency table was used for data analysis. The result showed that there was no statistically significant influence of father’s alcohol consumption on children drinking behavior. The result equally indicated that there was no statistically significant influence of mother’s alcohol consumption on children drinking behaviour. These results may be as a result of the children of the alcohol addict or drunkard suffering from social stigma due to their parents’ psychomotor impairment. They may perceive their parents’ behaviour as a disgrace as such their integrity and personality reduced to nothing and would not like to be influenced by such attitudes, rather may decide to drink responsibly. The results were discussed in relation to relevant literatures. Keywords: Parents, Alcohol Consumption, Children, Drinking Behaviour
