Parental Distress as a Mediator of Problem Behaviors in Sons of Alcohol‐Involved Families*

Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that parental distress would mediate the relations between parental lifetime alcohol and physical health problems and child behavior problems. Participants were 182 alcohol‐involved families and 83 matched controls with 3‐ to 5‐year‐old biological sons. Results show that sons of parents with alcohol and physical health problems are at elevated risk for behavior problems, partly related to the increased levels of distress their parents are experiencing.