Cassandra Hopkins Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Siri Håvås Haugland Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway Thomas K Greenfield Public Health Institute, Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, USA Ilona Tamutienė Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania Siri Hettige Department of Sociology, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka Anne-Marie Laslett Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Care Economy Research Institute, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Keywords: Harm to others, children's wellbeing, men's alcohol consumption, scoping review

Abstract

Background: Research has examined a range of impacts of women’s drinking on children. However, fewer studies have addressed the consequences of men’s heavy drinking on children. This review aims to identify and describe the types of behaviours and actions that arise from men's drinking and are likely to cause harm to children and to identify and describe the types of harms that children experience that stem from men's drinking.

Methods: Review articles from 1990 to September 2023 were included. Four health and social databases were searched for reviews that included terms relating to men, alcohol consumption, and child harms. From 1,873 identified articles, 19 articles met the criteria for inclusion.  

Results: Four broad topics were identified: relationships and families; violence and maltreatment; and health, social and education outcomes for children. Children may experience both direct and indirect harms associated with men’s drinking. The former includes examples where men’s drinking was linked to disinhibition, aggression, and physical assault. In the latter, men were absent resulting in being unavailable emotionally due to drinking. Internalising and externalising behaviours were common outcomes for children exposed to men’s drinking. Contextual factors such as poverty, cultural norms and patriarchal influences were interrelated and sometimes exacerbated harm to children from men’s drinking.

Conclusions: This review highlights the immediate and longer-lasting consequences of men’s drinking for children, including family conflict, maltreatment, and emotional distress. Future studies should address gender disparities and consider the social factors present in cases where children are exposed to men’s drinking.  

How to Cite

Hopkins, C., Håvås Haugland, S., Greenfield, T. K., Tamutienė, I., Hettige, S., & Laslett, A.-M. (2024). Harms to children from men’s heavy drinking: A scoping review . International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 12(2), 85–100. https://doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.523

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