"Jag har rätt att må bra trots att andra mår dåligt” - Berättelser om uppväxtvillkor i en missbrukarfamilj

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to examine how five writers portray their childhood with one or two parents with alcohol abuse problems in autobiographies. The research questions concerned the impact of parents’ abuse problems on the writers’ childhood, if they felt that they had got adequate support and help from others, and important turning points. The empirical material was five autobiographies, published 2006–2009, written by Swedish women who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s with a mother or a father with alcohol abuse problems. These books were subjected to structural and dramatist narrative analysis. The analysis showed that the authors’ childhood was characterised by a great concern and responsibility for the parents’ health. They also took responsibility for their own hygiene, clothing and education. Some also went hungry. Other results were that four of the authors experienced a great distrust in adults and society in general, feeling that no one acted on or attended to their miserable situation, but most of them had an adult, such as a teacher, a friend or a relative they could turn to for support. The moment some of the authors realized that their parent or parents had an alcohol abuse problem, together with the realization that they had a choice to leave the parental home and whether and when to meet them again are presented as important turning points in the autobiographies.