Role Reversal Between Alcoholic
Parents & Their Children
What is Role Reversal?
- a situation in which someone adopts a role the
reverse of that which they normally assume in
relation to someone else, who typically assumes
their role in exchange.
- This is the case in most relationships containing
alcohol abuse.
Examples of Role Reversal
- A child looking after their parent and worrying about their
well-being.
- Providing emotional/“parental” support and neglecting their own
priorities.
- Dealing with undesirable circumstances out of one’s control due
to immature actions from a parent.
“Reunion” by John Cheever
- Charlie takes on the role of a “parent” due to the immature actions
of his father.
- His father acts like a child, resulting of the denial of their service
at multiple establishments.
- At first Charlie has high hopes, attempting to rekindle the
relationship with his dad.
- As the story progresse, he realizes that his father is toxic for his
life.
Thesis Statement
In “Reunion”, children and adolescents who have an alcoholic
parent are forced to compensate for their parent’s immature and
attention seeking behavior, which can result in developmental
problems. This can be caused by these youth’s being placed in an
undesirable situation(s) that they have no control over, being
unwillingly held to a higher standard than they should be and
basically rising themselves.
What It’s Like To Grow Up in an Alcoholic Family
- “Struggle for survival”
- Childhood experience taken away from you.
- Constantly held to a higher standard.
- Likely to have relationship problems when older.
- Increased chance of alcohol abuse
Common Personality Traits of Children
- Guilt
- Fear
- Shame
- Depression
- Low-self esteem
- Fear of abandonment
- Codependency
- Loneliness
Physical (Instrumental) & Emotional
- Instrumental: child takes care of its siblings, saves money, cooks
and cleans
- Emotional: child is a friend of a parent, a buffer in marital
conflicts, supports siblings, protects the mother hit by the father,
is an intellectual and/ or sexual partner
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrGJrEK1aC4
Works Cited
Järvinen, Margaretha. “Understanding Addiction: Adult Children of Alcoholics Describing Their Parents’ Drinking
Problems.” Journal of Family Issues, vol. 36, no. 6, May 2015, pp. 805–825. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1177/0192513X13513027.
Pasternak, Aneta, and Katarzyna Schier. “The Role Reversal in the Families of Adult Children of Alcoholics.” Archives
of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, vol. 14, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp. 51–57. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=82784177&site=ehost-live.
Hosier, David. “Effect Of Alcoholic Parents On Children.” Childhood Trauma Recovery, 20 Aug. 2018,
childhoodtraumarecovery.com/all-articles/effects-of-alcoholic-parents/.
Sonnenberg, Elissa, MsEd. “Adult Children of Alcoholics.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 2019. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=94415308&site=eds-live.