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Abstract
A family history of alcoholism has shown to be one of the greatest consistent risk
factors in the intergenerational transference of alcohol problems. Whereas a large
number of studies have attempted to identify the processes responsible for this interfamilial
transfer, the mechanisms remain unclear. Family, twin and adoption studies, and environmental
theories have resulted in a number of unanswered questions regarding the extent that
these factors influence the transmission of alcohol behavior. Recently, cognitive
theories have suggested that the observation of parental drinking habits contributes
to the child's beliefs and expectations of alcohol's effects. A hypothesised cognitive
model will be proposed suggesting that the mechanism for the transference of particular
drinking styles from parent to offspring may be further explained by the transference
of alcohol cognitions, in particular, alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy.
This review focuses on research of bio/psycho/social factors that perpetuate alcohol
misuse across generations, and will delineate the proposed cognitive mechanisms for
the interfamilial transference of alcohol problems and discuss the implications of
the proposed model.