| This study examined the lived experiences of adult children who had at least one parent with an alcohol use disorder. Using Adlerian and Bowen systems theories as foundations, this study employed Giorgi and Giorgi's (2003) descriptive phenomenological approach that involved in-depth personal interviews and a five-step analysis of the participants' account. Ten adult children of alcoholics between the ages of 35 and 55 were invited to share and discuss their childhood experiences of living in an alcoholic environment. Analysis of the interview data produced reoccurring themes that provided a deeper understanding and true essence of what it meant to be an adult child of an alcoholic. |
