The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is reporting that 7.5 million children under age 18 (10.5 percent of this population) lived with a parent who has experienced an alcohol use disorder in the past year.
The report is titled Data Spotlight: Over 7 Million Children Live with a Parent with Alcohol Problems. The report is based on data from SAMHSA’s 2005-2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
Click here to download the report.
The reported numbers are higher for children living in two-parent households (11.6 percent) compared with children in single-parent households (7.2 percent).
From the SAMHSA news release:
According to the report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 6.1 million of these children live with two parents—with either one or both parents experiencing an alcohol use disorder in the past year.
The remaining 1.4 million of these children live in a single-parent house with a parent who has experienced an alcohol use disorder in the past year. Of these children 1.1 million lived in a single mother household and 0.3 million lived in a single father household. This study is done in conjunction with Children of Alcoholics Week, February 12-18, 2012.