Alcohol abuse

Alcohol Abuse Introduction Alcohol abuse is not always characterized with the pattern of heavy drinking; instead, it is defined in terms of the adverse consequences. Alcohol abuse is on rise in the US. Statistics reveal that 1 out of 6 people in the US faces drinking problem. Alcohol abuse leads to relationship complications. Normally, alcohol abusers think that they are punishing their own bodies and not to their families but the thinking has a flaw. The paper explores how alcohol abuse leads to relationship issues. The paper also explores whether current behavior of alcohol abuse has any relation to the past.
Alcohol abuse impacts the family negatively in many areas. Some of the issues that are likely to arise in reference to relationships can be described in the ensuing paragraphs.
Marital Conflict and Violence
The marital conflict is common in the family where alcohol is abused. Conflicts arise due to mismatching of goals and aspirations. The spouse of the person who abuses alcohol feels like isolated. Initially, dialogues between them generate small trifles but soon take a shape of major conflicts. A person with alcohol abuse becomes less and less tolerant toward other family members and resorts to violence frequently. Often, children suffer most. Aggressive behavior becomes routine. If the person with alcohol abuse does not realize this in time, marital relationship may be broken off completely (Alcohol Problems in Intimate Relationships 2003).
Social Relationship at Risk
Alcohol abuse causes strain in social relationships too. Such persons often fail to act on its obligations as per the normal adult. The person becomes socially less active and feels more secured in their alcohol consumption. Any socialization process is strengthened through mutual cooperation and communication but that falls back with the person involved with alcohol. Apart from violence, other issues that start surfacing in the life of a person who indulges into alcohol abuse are economic insecurity, jealousy, infidelity culminating into divorce (Alcohol Problems in Intimate Relationships 2003).
Past Experiences Decide about Current Behavior
Past experience has a significant impact on the current behavior. Widom et al. (2001) cites about the study done by Ireland and Widom on 908 children with legally proved abuse and another group of 667 children without any abusive histories. The study was to find out whether childhood victimization was resulting into alcohol related abuse during adult age. The study did conclude that in case of females alcohol abuse during adult age was related to the childhood victimization; however, same study also concluded that childhood victimization in case of males was not causing alcohol or other drug abuse. A follow up study also came to the same conclusion. The authors further argue that physical or sexual abuse in childhood among male alcohol abusers was slightly higher than the rates noticed in general population. The authors emphasized that no firm conclusion can be drawn about the relationship between adult alcohol abuses in men with childhood victimization.
Conclusion
Thus, it becomes amply clear that alcohol abuse does impact the marital and social relationships of the person. There appears a strong relationship between adult alcohol abuse in women and their childhood victimization though nothing conclusively stated about its effect on males. More studies are needed in this area to understand the mechanisms that link child abuse with the adult alcohol abuse in more clear terms. This will certainly help experts to cope with the issue during child abuse stage itself so that the person does not turn to alcohol abuse at later stage.
References
Alcohol Problems in Intimate Relationships (2003). niaaa. nih. gov. Retrieved October 12, 2012
from http://pubs. niaaa. nih. gov/publications/niaaa-guide/index. htm
Widom, C. S.; Hiller-Sturmhofel, S. (2001). Alcohol Abuse as a Risk Factor for and
Consequence of Child Abuse. niaaa. nih. gov. Retrieved October 12, 2012 from http://pubs. niaaa. nih. gov/publications/arh25-1/52-57. pdf
http://www. livestrong. com/article/73794-alcohol-problems-relationships/