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Family Structure and Behavior in Alcoholism: A Review of the Literature

  • Chapter
Social Aspects of Alcoholism

Abstract

The family in its varied forms through time has constituted the primary social unit of all societies. Marriage functions as a social institution that regulates sexual mating and legitimizes children. The family characteristically has borne the chief responsibility for the nurturing and socialization of children. In keeping with its social significance, a voluminous literature of fiction and nonfiction works deals with the intricacies of specific families and of families as generic social forms.

When a man meets stress, his family, willing or not, shares the anguish of his pains. He loses his job, and seeds of dissension are planted. Tensions course through the family as hardships increase; irritations chafe once smooth relationships and suppressed hostility crackles momentarily into view. The interplay within the family builds toward an emotional climax, and as the climax nears, bitter antagonisms creep from hiding and gnaw at the ties that bind the members. Often, unsuspected strengths appear to counteract antagonisms as the family stumbles toward its own tragedy and exaltation. (Hansen and Hill, 1964, p. 782)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA

    Joan Ablon

  2. The Community Mental Health Training Program, Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute, San Francisco, California, USA

    Joan Ablon

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  1. Joan Ablon
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Department of Psychiatry, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, New York, USA

    Benjamin Kissin  & Henri Begleiter  & 

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Ablon, J. (1976). Family Structure and Behavior in Alcoholism: A Review of the Literature. In: Kissin, B., Begleiter, H. (eds) Social Aspects of Alcoholism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9495-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9495-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9497-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9495-3

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