Parental alcohol use and adolescent school adjustment in the general population: Results from the HUNT study

In a Norwegian county, 88% of the population aged 13-19 years participated in a health survey (N = 8984). Among other variables, adolescents reported on four dimensions of school adjustment, while mothers and fathers reported their own drinking behaviour. Mental distress and other control variables were adjusted for. Multivariate analysis including generalized estimation equations was applied to investigate associations.Compared to children of light drinkers, children of alcohol abusers had moderately elevated attention and conduct problem scores. Maternal alcohol abuse was particularly predictive of such problems. Children of abstainers did significantly better than children of light drinkers. Controlling for adolescent mental distress reduced the association between maternal abuse and attention problems. The associations between parental reported drinking and school adjustment were further reduced when controlling for the children's report of seeing their parents drunk, which itself predicted school adjustment. Controlling for parental mental distress did not reduce the associations.Parental alcohol abuse is an independent risk factor for attention and conduct problems at school. Some of the risk associated with mothers' drinking is likely to be mediated by adolescent mental distress. Despite lowered adjustment on the externalizing dimensions, children of alcohol abusers report that they enjoy being at school as much as other children.Alcohol abuse and dependence are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders [1,2], also among parents [3,4]. An extensive amount of research has been conducted on the psychological functioning of children of alcohol abusers, although relatively few studies have addressed these children's school adjustment. Most of the research on children of alcohol abusers recruits parents from clinical treatment or uses single responders for both exposure and outcome measures. This study investigates school adjustment, reported by a population