While early research on how adult alcohol abuse impacts on children was typically poorly constructed, more modern and careful methodologies nonetheless produce the same results. Children of alcoholics, or even of those parents periodically abusive of alcohol, are at far greater risk for psychological problems than other children. They are also, not surprisingly, more prone to evince selfdestructive behaviors, including substance abuse. How much of this effect is due to direct inuence from the parents is difficult to determine, since the household marked by alcohol abuse is pervasively changed by it. More exactly, a very common effect of alcoholism in parents is a neglect of the children. Such children are then free to tail under dangerous influences an attentive parent would shield them from. This links to the sense of self esteem the child of the alcoholic parent develops. which is typically far lower than normal. Studies on adult children of alcoholics (COAs) reveal that attachment issues are common with COAs, as well as uniformly lower senses of selfworth. Alcohol abuse is famous for creating a form of seffishness, or sell- centeredness, in people, and nothing is less appropriate when the rearing of children is concerned