[NursingNurse]

I replied that niether parents alcoholic, however, my mother is from an alcoholic family, and later (after I left home) developed some dependency issues.

Some could argue that my father is dependant on alcohol, because he does have one beer a day on most days, but he never "had to have it" - as in if he couldn't have a beer, or when he wanted to loose weight it was not an issue for him to not have a beer.

So, I guess I'm saying this was a little hard to answer completely.

[RedZeppelinRN]

Originally Posted by athena55

Hello Everyone:
First born (adopted) female. Both parents abused alcohol, in fact lots of members of extended family abused ETOH. My younger brother by four years and I do not abuse alcohol. He is also adopted. Now my two younger siblings, both biological siblings, abuse both alcohol and other substances. SO the two adoptive children do not use or abuse alcohol, but the two biologically-related siblings do. I am not sure if it is because of the effects we have lived through or because we do not have that specific genetic marker for alcohol abuse.
That would also make an interesting research project, don'cha think?
Respectfully,
athena

First born, RN, alcoholic father. Mother codependent. I went to a therapist one time while I was in high school. She asked me if the rest of my family was in therapy. I almost fell off my chair laughing. I said, "no, they are all too busy going crazy.

Red

[beverly j]

I am the only child of my father, although, both parents are non-alcoholic

[ranaazha]

My response from the general nursing thread:

Originally Posted by lvs2nrs3535

Hi everybody,
I have a question and PLEASE dont anybody blast me for typecasting, this was not MY statement, it was a LCSW I was friends with. She claims that a huge % of nurses are first born females of alcoholic fathers. Something to do with the fact that as the first born in dysfunction family of origin you are a caregiver from the get-go. Now my father was not an alcoholic, but I am a first born. I was wondering how many of us are first-borns. (Also, she said this to me a long time ago, and I have lost touch with her, so I cannot ask her where the heck she got her information was) I was just starting school at the time and didnt really fight with her about it, just kind of gave her one of the Hmmm, thats an interesting opinion.... answers. Also, she meant it as a compliment, that we take a difficult beginning and build on our strengths and turn them into a career.
So, how many first borns are out there?
KristyBRN

I got a BIG chuckle out of this one!

I am the first born daughter of an alcoholic father. Also, my sister is 7 years younger than I am, and I began near full-time care of her when I was 12 (while my parents were contemplating divorce because my father had an affair and my mother worked odd jobs to supplement our income, including 7-Eleven and Wienerschnitzel, to my embarassment). Also, my mother has borderline personality disorder (which I developed as well...), so I did a lot of "parenting" of my entire family from a very young age.

It all makes sense...

[stelon]

I'm not an RN yet, but I'm working on it. I'm not the first born--but then my big brother is technically my half-brother. We have different fathers. My dad is an alcoholic.

[DA314]

I'm not an RN (yet), but hope to be. As first I thought I didn't fit the stereotype, because I am a middle child. However, I may have answered the poll incorrectly. I am *technically* the first born to my parents, because my older brother is adpoted. Both parents are alcoholics. So it depends if you are truly going with first born, or order of siblings.

[embarrasingfield]

Wow- what an interesting poll.

[BUTTERFLY63]

I am the youngest although my brother is 9 years older than me and my sister is 7 years older. Father drank heavily I guess a questionable alcaholic and a bipolar mother who would never get help.

I know one of the reasons I became a nurse is because as a nurse if something happens to the patient you can fix it and you have control of the situation as a child my family life was chaotic and unpredictible a situation I had no control over and I couldn't fix it.

Maybe it's what makes us good nurses.

[moody jr]

just a cna in lpn school planning to get rn. first born of alcoholic father, semi-normal mom, but i am an alcoholic(sober), my bro 6years younger, drug addict, sis 8 years younger, light drinker, no drugs. I was raised differently than they were, yet we all learned a lesson from our divorced parents. He has a hard time functioning sober, i refuse to be attached because of lack of resources, sis wants perfect family,house, blah blah. ps she's a LPN studying to be RN. so while this study is valid, but like those birth order books, not always accurate.

[aloevera]

I am an RN, 2nd born with both alcoholic mother and father.....
BTW, I don't drink at all.....but my husband was alcoholic...go figure...
guess what they say is you marry someone like your father..I didn't prove them wrong !!