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Alcoholism experts describe adult children of alcoholics (ACOA) adopting roles in the family to emotionally survive the effect of alcoholism. However, little research has been done to explore the roles This study examined roles in 748 college undergraduates using the Children's Roles Inventory and the Characteristics of Self and Family Form. Comparing role identification in ACOA and non-ACOA groups, no differences were found. Among the entire sample, participants from dysfunctional families had higher scores on the Scapegoat and Lost-Child roles were more likely to take on the Lost-Child role as the dominant role, and less likely to adopt the Mascot role. In a comparison of three groups, the dysfiinctional family group without alcoholism had lower scores on the Hero scale, and higher scores on the Lost-Child and Scapegoat scales than either the ACOA or the normal family groups. These results suggest a need for clinicians to re-think the use of role conceptualizations in therapeutic work with adult children of alcoholics. with a clearer focus on the effect of family dys function rather than alcoholism.
It has been proposed that in a family system, children tend to take on roles to fit into the family. Adler (1956) identified roles existing within families, linking them to a child's birth order. Viewing the family as a system of people in related roles, Nardi (1981) proposed that parental alcoholism has an impact upon the normal role definitions within the family system. Those who provide treatment to adult children of alcoholics (ACOA) have written that the therapeutic issues of such clients are the result of roles-rigid patterns of behavior from childhood-that were adopted to survive emotionally in a family rendered dysfunctional by alcoholism (Black, 1981; Wegscheider-Cruse, 1985).
These authors describe the roles in children from alcoholic homes as being:
The Hero, who is an overachiever, parentified, controlling, and perfectionistic
The Scapegoat, who is rebellious, angry, acting-out, and troublesome
The Lost Child, who is a loner, shy, ignored, and sensitive
The Mascot, who is humorous, mischievous, attention-seeking, and fragmented
The roles are described as a major factor in the way the world is seen, distorting and coloring perceptions into adulthood (Wegscheider-Cruse, 1985). The roles have even been described as reaching into the workplace, influencing job selection and performance (Woititz, 1987)....