Attributional style and depressive symptoms in children of substance abusers and in children of nonsubstance abusers

Chronic use of alcohol and other drugs can cause a range of problems such as impairment of the way a person thinks or feels. These problems can also occur in the children of substance abusers, even though they are not abusing themselves. Contemporary research seeks to identify psychological difficulties in children of substance abusers as possible precursors to later substance abusing behavior. To this end, the present study compared 20 children of substance abusers and 20 children of non-substance abusers on measures of depression and attributional style. Results indicated that children of substance abusers exhibited greater depressive symptomatology and demonstrated a depressogenic attributional style more frequently than did children of non-substance abusers. Thus, the data indicate that children of substance abusers differ in ways that suggest potential risks for psychological difficulties, especially affective problems.