| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of the present study was to assess the psychological well-being and relationships with parents of adult children of alcoholics who attend and do not attend self-help groups. The study involved 58 subjects, 52 women and 6 men. The subjects belonged to three different age groups - 18-29 years, 30-40 years and 41-65 years old. Targeted and "snowball" sampling was used for the selection of research participants. In this study we assessed the subjects' relationship with parents and psychological well-being. The obtained results showed that the psychological well-being of the adult children of alcoholics who attend and do not attend self-help groups does not differ, but it is lower than that of the general population. Also, some aspects of the psychological well-being of adult children of alcoholics are related to education and family status. Only the relationship with the mother, which is also related to family status, differs between the persons who attend and those who do not attend mutual help groups. After evaluating the relationships between the psychological well-being of adult children of alcoholics and relationships with their parents, it became clear that the well-being of subjects who do not attend groups is related to relationships with both parents, and those who attend - only to relationships with their mother. The relationship between the adult children of alcoholics and their mother also predicts psychological well-being. When looking for links between the duration of attendance at mutual help groups and well-being and relationships with parents, it was found that the duration of attendance is not related to either psychological well-being or parent-child relationships. Our study reveals important links between self-help group attendance of adult children of alcoholics, well-being and relationships with parents. It also confirms that children who grew up in an alcoholic family have lower psychological well-being. It means that mutual help groups can be an important and necessary source of support for these individuals. |
