ABSTRACT
In this chapter the several bodies of empirical literature regarding the behavior and characteristics of family members are reviewed. The chapter begins with the topic of spouses. Next the characteristics of children of alcoholics are discussed. The literature on children in this chapter primarily focuses on behaviors that are more likely to be responses to the interpersonal environment, rather than genetically or physically determined traits. The reader is referred to the section on genetics in the second volume for discussion of what characteristics might be inherited. The last topic in this chapter concerns the interpersonal environment in alcoholic homes—how alcoholics view their spouses and how spouses view their alcoholic husbands, how family members view their homes, and finally, studies in which families have been observed as they interact both while drinking and while sober. Questions running through each of the literatures are (a) what particular features characterize families of alcoholics, (b) do these features reflect a unique response or rather a general response to stress, (c) are there some alcoholic families who do not display these characteristics, and (d) do problems in the family abate given recovery in the alcoholic.
