Transgenerational Analysis of Violence within the Families of Alcoholic Women

Abstract

This study had the aim of verifying the existence of physical, psychological and sexual abuse and identifies the victims and the abusers within families, across three generations: present (partners and children), parents and siblings and paternal and maternal grandmothers of women with and without alcohol dependence, from their own reports. The presence of physical, psychological and/or sexual violence was compared through the analysis of the genograms, of thirty families of alcoholic women and thirty-two control families. It was observed that the alcoholic women belonged to families that suffered more psychological, physical and/or sexual violence, and also had greater involvement with psychological violent partners. The results suggest an association between the family of women alcoholics and the types of violence studied not only in present generation but also in generations before that. The alcoholic women were both the victims and the perpetrators of the violence.