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Adult children of workaholics were compared with adult children of nonworkaholics on self-concept, anxiety, depression, and locus of control. Results indicated greater depression and external locus of control among the offspring of workaholics. Children of workaholic fathers not only had greater depression and external locus of control but also scored higher on anxiety. No significant differences were found between children of workaholic mothers and children of nonworkaholic mothers on any of the variables. Self-concept was not related to parental workaholism in any of the comparisons.
A vast body of empirically based literature has evolved on adult children of alcoholics, showing this population to be at risk (e.g., Kelly & Myers, 1996; Post & Robinson, in press; Post, Webb, & Robinson, 1991; Robinson & Rhoden, 1998; Tweed & Ryff, 1991; Webb, Post, Robinson, & Moreland, 1992). Parental alcoholism has been linked to low self-esteem, external locus of control, higher levels of depression, and greater anxiety to name just a few of the variables that have been studied.
Although studies on adult children of alcoholics pervade the literature, no empirical study has examined adult children of workaholics to determine outcome measures as they relate to parental workaholism. Generally, work addiction and its associated problems have been ignored or downplayed in the professional literature (Robinson, 1996b). The latest empirical research on workaholism was found to corroborate earlier anecdotal reports on nearly all the variables studied (Robinson, 1996b).
During the late 1980s, work addiction was identified as a serious and legitimate type of compulsive disorder that is related to family dysfunction (Pietropinto, 1986; Robinson, 1989; Spruell, 1987). These reports indicate that, while attempting to medicate emotional pain by overworking, workaholics suffer some of the same symptoms as alcoholics. They have similar denial systems, reality distortion, need to control, and highs and lows. Careers zoom and marriages and friendships falter, as workaholics get adrenaline highs from their work binges and experience hangovers as they ultimately start to come down. The downward swing is often accompanied by withdrawal, irritability, anxiety, and depression. It would follow that if children of workaholics live in similar symptomatic families of origin, they would experience coping problems similar to those of children of alcoholics. This study is the first of its kind to examine the...