An exploration of the personality characteristics and interpersonal relating behaviors of adult children of alcoholics

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to determine if a non-clinical Adult Children of Alcoholic (ACOA) group was different from a nonACOA group on personality traits (measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator-MBTI), and interpersonal relating behaviors (measured by the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior Test-FIRO-B). Additional purposes included: determining if ACOAs and nonACOAs differed in their distribution of demographic questionnaire responses; and determining whether qualities of the home environment were associated with variations in the personality characteristics of ACOAs. A sample of 30 ACOA subjects and 30 nonACOA subjects was selected from 180 volunteer undergraduates who were administered the C.A.S.T., MBTI, FIRO-B, and demographic questionnaire. The data was analyzed for differences between the groups using several MANOVA procedures, as well as chi square analyses on the demographic questionnaire. The most important finding from this research was that the ACOAs were remarkably similar to the students raised in non-alcoholic families on personality characteristics and interpersonal relating behaviors. There were no significant differences, in mean scores, between ACOAs and nonACOAs on the MBTI, or on the FIROB. Therefore, the literature that had emphasized ACOAs' great need for control, difficulty in identifying and expressing feelings, and difficulty with interpersonal relationships was not supported by this study. The analysis of the demographic data revealed that sexual abuse (by a parent or another relative) was significantly more prevalent for ACOAs than for nonACOAs. This study also examined three demographic variables that were hypothesized to impact on the psychological outcome of ACOAs. The three variables included: ritual status (consistent celebration of holidays as a child versus inconsistent celebration), environmental status (unstable versus stable), and ordinal position (oldest versus youngest). The analyses of the impact of the demographic variables on psychological functioning revealed no significant findings...