ue" (Gravitz, & Bowden, 1985, p. 7).
The effects of children of alcoholics are often "repressed memories, . . . guilt, . . . feelings of inadequacy and fail ure, with an overwhelming belief that whatever" is wrong in the family was largely the fault of the child, and is largely the responsibility of the child to correct (Kokin, & Walker, 1989, p. 124).
What children perceive in an alcoholic home is a parent, or parents, who chooses to drink, and, therefore, chooses behaviors which causes the children in the home to feel "rejected, unloved, and confused" (Kokin, & Walker, 1989, p. 3128). Such children are "often left virtually without parents in a sense, they are like orphans and maybe even worse off than orphans" (Kokin, & Walker, 1989, p. 129).
Children of alcoholic parents often are required to deal with physical violence directed against either themselves or other family members by the alcoholic parent or parents (Kokin, & Walker, 1989). When not physically battered, they are almost always emotionally battered (Kokin, & Walker, 1989).
The behavior of alcoholic parents tend to vary widely. Therefore, the experiences, and, thus, the effects of parental alcoholism on children also tend to vary widely (Kokin, & Wal ker, 1989). Further, the presence within a family of a non alcoholic parent capable of dealing with the alcoholic parent, and, to some degree, protecting the children in the family, also affects the way in which an alcoholic parent affects children (Kokin, & Walker, 1989). Lastly, the inner resources of each individual child differ often significantly, and such differences contribute to a differentiation in the effects of an alcoholic parent on a child (Kokin, & Walker, 1989).
The functions served by alcohol are different in different cultures (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1983). Therefore, the effects on children in alcoholic fam ilies tend to differ by culture (Gravitz, & Bo...