Intimacy, loneliness, and openness to feelings in adult children of alcoholics

This article examines whether adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) have more problems with intimacy, loneliness, and openness to their own feelings than adult children of nonalcoholics (ACNAs). A sample of 76 adults ages 25 to 40 was drawn from the membership of a church. No subjects were preidentified as being ACAs. Subjects completed an 89-item questionnaire that included four standardized instruments. ACAs were found to be experiencing significantly less intimacy in their closest current relationship than ACNAs. Significant associations were found among the major variables of intimacy loneliness, and openness to feelings, although correlations were much stronger for ACNAs, suggesting different relationships among the variables for the two groups. Models for the prediction of intimacy and loneliness were constructed in which a significant amount of the variance for both variables was predicted.