Alcoholism is an important issue in past and present day society. The topic of alcoholism is important because alcoholism does not just affect the person drinking, it affects the people around them such as family. Within the family, if children are involved they are affected in many ways. Children are easily influenced by what is around them, such as the environment they grew up in. Therefore, Children of Alcoholics (COA) are affected by their alcoholic parent(s). Scholars are interested in this topic because there are obvious social effects in children when the parent(s) is an alcoholic and there is a lot of information and research subjects out there, which makes for great research. This literature review will address the …show more content…
According to the Salem Encyclopedia, “Alcoholism is a condition characterized by a physical dependence on alcohol and an inability to stop or limit drinking (Scholten, 2012).” Blagojevic-Damasek, Frencl, Perekovik, Cavajda & Kovacek (2012) note that, dependence on alcohol is characterized by symptoms relating to cognition, physiology and behavior. All of which affects the functioning of an an individual in a variety of areas. Lawson, Peterson & Lawson (1983) found that Tarter and Schneider (1976) identified 14 social factors that play a part in a person's decision to start/stop or continue drinking. The first one being, alcohol exposure in childhood; the second is what the person believes is acceptable or immoderate in the amount of alcohol to drink; the third is customs on drinking; the fourth is the alcoholic beverage of choice; the fifth is the level on which they consider alcohol safe ; the sixth is how alcohol is viewed symbolically; the seventh is how public intoxication is viewed; the eighth is the drinking and the social group that you relate to; the ninth is activities that are related to drinking; the tenth is the amount of peer pressure to drink applied to the individual; the eleventh is the view of alcohol use in exclusive and or social settings; the twelfth is the ability to freely change reference groups associated with drinking; the thirteenth is the permanence of fourteen which is rewards or punishments of drinking in a social perspective (Lawson & Peterson & Lawson, 1983 p. 72; Tarter and Schneider,