A lot of the research in this area, much of which comes from the UK, has already been summarised elsewhere [for detail click here – go to relevant pages of main ENCARE website and UK website]. To avoid repetition with the information that is elsewhere on the main ENCARE website, the key conclusions which have emerged from the work that has been undertaken, and which are pertinent to the UK, can be summarised as follows:

• Children can be greatly affected in a whole range of ways through living with both parental alcohol misuse and parental domestic abuse.
• The impact of living with parental alcohol misuse is believed to be similar to the impact of living with parental domestic abuse, though often has a greater affect on children if they are struggling to understand or cope with both issues together. However, there is some evidence which highlights some of the differences which might be experienced through living with either or both issues.
• The quality and consistency of parenting, and therefore family environment and child development can be particularly affected.
• It is hard to imagine unless we have been there living with parental alcohol misuse or parental domestic abuse, let alone both issues together. It is even more alarming, therefore, that frequently other problems are also present. It is often be the disruption and conflict that comes with these problems which cause more problems for children and their families than the alcohol consumption itself.
• As a result, children are at increased risk of experiencing harm, both in the short- and the long-term, including problems with physical and mental health, behavioural problems and substance use/misuse. This risk is enhanced if parental alcohol misuse and parental domestic abuse co-exist, risks which become greater the more additional issues are also present.
• The full extent of associated problems is often kept ‘behind closed doors’, usually because of shame, guilt, fear and embarrassment, meaning that children can find it incredibly difficult to seek help or to talk openly about what is going on.
• Parental alcohol misuse and parental domestic abuse will have a differential impact on children according to the child’s gender, age, developmental level, ethnic group and social class. Siblings in the same family very often experience the problems very differently, meaning that the impact on them should not be assumed to be the same.
• It is becoming increasingly recognised that children are not always as greatly affected by parental alcohol misuse or parental domestic abuse as might be predicted. There is believed to be a range of protective factors and processes which, if present or introduced, can promote resilience thereby ‘buffering’ a child from such negative consequences and reducing short- and long-term harm.

A 2007 book by Hedy Cleaver and colleagues, ‘Child Protection, Domestic Violence and Parental Substance Misuse’ makes an important contribution to the field, exploring both the experiences of families and their associations with child protection and other services.

To understand more about identifying children who are living with parental alcohol misuse and who may need help, you can follow the link below to find out more about common signs to look out for, and ideas of how to talk to children to find out if they are living with parental alcohol misuse.