2 min readWashingtonSep 21, 2011 03:12 PM IST
First published on: Sep 21, 2011 at 03:12 PM IST
A study has revealed that children whose parents are alcoholics are at a greater risk of consuming alcohol when they come across stressful situations.
The research from the Sahlgrenska Academy,at the University of Gothenburg,Sweden,sheds new light on the link between alcoholic parents and 50 per cent of children having drinking habits in the future.
The study,carried out by researcher Anna Soderpalm Gordh,involved 58 healthy people who were divided into two groups on the basis of whether they came from a family with drinking habit or not.
Both groups were randomly assigned two experimental situations,one of which was more stressful and involved solving mathematical problems under timed conditions in public.
The two groups were subsequently allowed to drink alcohol in an experimental consumption test or a placebo,depending on which situation they had been randomly assigned.
“The results show that people with parents who have a history of alcohol abuse drink more than others when exposed to stress,” Soderpalm Gordh said.
This behaviour can have negative consequences in the long term. It is no secret that people who consume large quantities of alcohol run a higher risk of developing dependency in the future.
“If alcohol relaxes you when you’re stressed,then you should try to find other ways of calming yourself down — relaxation exercises,for example,” Soderpalm Gordh added.
The study has been published in the most recent issue of the journal Pharmacology,Biochemistry and Behaviour.
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