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Kristin M. Hilton

Dr. Cassel

English Composition II 1201-www

22 January 2017

Research paper proposal

Alcoholism is a difficult disease to live with, much less wrap our arms around as a

culture. Regardless of whether it is from the perspective of the alcoholic, or of the people closest

to them, the disease, like acid, eats away at the fabric of the lives of the people it touches. My

interest for purpose of this paper however, is in the effects of the alcoholic mother on her

daughters. This is not to say that every parent/child bond is not important or that only daughters

are affected. It saddens me that so many women today are living in such emotional pain for

reasons they cannot begin to define. Their own relationships with their daughters are fragile and

strained. I feel strongly that the history of case studies and research that has been done on the

topic, although insightful and thorough, has only exacerbated a victim mentality. Researchers

have been able to define the characteristic traits of the female children of alcoholic mothers, and

even begin to treat them in psychotherapy. However, I have seen few books written by scholars

or researchers or even psychoanalysts that attest to possibility that these same women who are so

profoundly affected by their alcoholic mothers, can acknowledge, identify and begin to heal and

have meaningful, healthy relationships.

The questions I will address are to what extent a female child of an alcoholic mother is

affected and if the effects of being raised by an alcoholic mother are permanent or temporary,

and to what extent, if any, the female child is more susceptible to emotional developmental
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disorders and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Or, if there is greater likelihood of female children

to become alcoholics themselves. In this paper I will discuss the depth and variety of disorders

and effects. I will focus mainly on how the emotional development of a female child of an

alcoholic mother is different from that of a female child of a healthy mother. To an extent, I will

speak from my own experience as the daughter of an alcoholic mother to make it more personal

and perhaps interesting. However, I will rely mostly on an abundance of research and case

studies that have been done by psychoanalysts throughout the history of psychology.

I plan to format my research paper by first stating some general statistical data on

alcoholism, then breaking that data down as it applies to women and female children. I will

discuss some of the most common and powerful effects of this disease on the daughters of

alcoholic women and on how the daughters develop emotionally. In an effort to keep it

interesting for the reading audience I will then talk about the outward behaviors and common

scenarios shown in female children. Lastly I will talk about the positive attributes of many

women who have gone through a healing process and have strong, healthy relationships in her

life and whom do not fall back on unhealthy coping mechanisms in times of stress.

I will reply a bit on my own empirical evidence but will refer to the case studies carried

out and to research that has been done in contemporary psychology. There are an abundance of

books written on the topic as well as material written in journals and periodicals such as

Psychology Today, that will provide a good deal of material from which to work.