1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The specific aims of the present study were to identify the predicaments of early adolescent sons of alcoholic fathers growing up in urban, low SES [socioeconomic status] environments, in regard to school adjustment and substance use, which represent key outcomes at this age period (Blum, Astone, Decker, & Mouli, 2014), and to determine whether the father’s absence acted as a moderator of the risk for the sons associated with paternal alcoholism.» (p. 1012)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«Given the strong evidence of genetic factors involved in the link between paternal alcoholism and boys’ substance use and adjustment problems, [the resarchers] hypothesized that even within a low SES context, sons of alcoholic fathers would be less adjusted than their peers (i.e., the direct effect hypothesis).» (p. 1012)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Subjects were Caucasian boys [N = 653] from families representative of low SES areas of the French school board of Montreal, Canada, and part of the Montreal Longitudinal and Experimental Study (MLES; Tremblay, Vitaro, Nagin, Pagani, & Séguin, 2003).» (p. 1012-1013)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The expected association between paternal alcoholism and sons’ adjustment in school was observed: Sons of alcoholic fathers showed lower academic performance at age 13, according to their teacher, and had lower grades according to school records than their peers with nonalcoholic fathers. However, the separation from the father did not moderate the association of paternal alcoholism with boys’ school adjustment. Simultaneously, parents’ socioeconomic resources were positively associated with the boys’ academic performance and grades, and were negatively linked with their assignment to a special class.» (p. 1025) «The hypotheses regarding paternal alcoholism and its moderation by paternal absence received strong support from the results observed for boys’ substance use. Sons of alcoholic fathers were more likely than their peers to use tobacco, marijuana and hard drugs, as well as to get drunk, and use a higher variety of hard drugs. Among these boys, those living with their father in intact families had the worst outcomes for their frequency of tobacco and marijuana use, as well as to get drunk, and for using a higher variety of hard drugs. In regard to paternal alcoholism, these results are consistent with previous reports on COA [children of alcoholics] at different ages […].» (p. 1025)