Children of Alcoholics Week – 12th- 18th February 2012
posted by
Andy
-
12:22 15/02/12
This week is Children of Alcoholics Week (COA Week), an annual event which falls close to Valentines Day. It’s the 4th year of a campaign led by the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa), a body founded in 1990 to address issues affecting children who grow up in families where one or both parents suffer from alcohol dependency or a similar addictive problem.
It’s estimated that there are 920 000 people under the age of 18 living with parental alcohol dependency today, and approximately 2.8 million adults who grew up with parental alcohol dependency. It’s a major issue and research suggests there are a wide range of potential effects of growing up in a such an environment.
Research
Nacoa research reports that although many children of alcohol dependent parents grow up to be very successful and productive members of society, a number also develop serious problems both as children and later in life as adults, such as problems at school, behavioural issues and compulsive disorders. For example they are:
- Twice as likely to experience difficulties at school
- Three times as likely to develop alcoholism
- Twice as likely to develop drug addiction
- Five times as likely to develop an eating disorder
- Twice as likely to be in trouble with the police
- Three times as likely to consider suicide
- Six times as likely to witness domestic violence
These statistics could be considered all the more worrying when considering the increase in alcohol consumption in recent years, particularly amongst young people. It is also reported that many young people learn to adapt to situations and take that learning into adulthood, sometimes passing it on to their own children, irrespective of whether they themselves become alcohol dependent or not. Nacoa’s work focuses on ‘the alcohol family system, because it is here that problems begin’, and its helpline receives more than 20,000 phone calls each year.
Get involved
The seriousness of the issues raised by Nacoa has led to the support of COA Week by many high profile individuals and celebrities such as former Arsenal footballer Tony Adams, singer Belinda Carlisle, model Elle MacPherson and actor Sir Ben Kingsley, along with organisations such as NSPCC, 4 Children, COAP and Centrepoint.
It is possible for anyone to show support by getting involved in any one of number of events being held across the country throughout this week and beyond. Including a few in your local Starbucks!
For anyone coping with any of the issues raised here there are various channels of help and support available.
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