A study of the impact of childhood experiences on secondary school teachers who are Adult Children of Alcoholics

Statement of purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore through in-depth interviewing the impact of childhood experiences on secondary teachers who were raised in alcoholic homes, and to raise the awareness of school administrators and secondary teachers about the characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoAs). This research examined how those experiences influenced teachers\u27 feeling of self, their interpersonal relationships, and their lives in the school workplace. The process. Thirty-three teacher volunteers were drawn from three large secondary schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. All participants were asked to be interviewed about their childhood experiences, supply family background data, take an Attitude Audit Questionnaire, and a Gregorc Style Delineator. All participants\u27 names were coded to protect the rights and welfare of the volunteers. Their principals were asked to identify which teachers on their staff were the most controlling, which teachers viewed the world in terms of black or white, who were the most sensitive to criticism, the most isolated, the most responsible, and who most desperately want to please. The findings. Of the thirty-three volunteers, twenty-six teachers self-disclosed in their interviews that they had grown up in a home where there was at least one parent who was a problem drinker. Those ACoAs were affected by their childhood experiences and continue to use past survival tactics in their adult lives. Data suggests that these adults experience problems in interpersonal relationships with their peers and their supervisors. These teachers did not respond in positive ways to their principals, appeared more serious than their colleagues, less trusting of their supervisors, and were more rigid in their attitudes and behaviors than non-ACoA teachers in the study. Conclusions. ACoA teachers work in the secondary schools of Massachusetts, and they exhibit similar symptoms and behaviors to ACoAs in other professions. Data suggests that a significant number of ACoAs may exist in every secondary school. If so, large numbers of ACoAs in a secondary school could negatively effect teacher morale in that school