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Family arguments: the less heartwarming Christmas tradition

How drunken arguments impact Ohio family holiday gatherings.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Time spent catching up with family, drinking and being merry is a regular part of the holiday season in the United States.  But as positive as these may seem, a survey by the American Addiction Center finds that arguments involving alcohol affect a national average of 21% of family get-togethers.

Despite the national difficulty, Ohioans enter the holiday season traveling to see family. 

The aforementioned survey found that 1 in 5 of Ohio family gatherings involves drunken arguments over the holiday season. More so, out of all of the arguments families have during the festive season the average Ohioan said 38% of them involved the presence of alcohol.

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Comparatively, Delaware holds a rate of 1 in 3 families being impacted by alcohol-influenced arguments over the holidays. On the flip side, Holiday gatherings in Hawaii have a lesser rate of alcohol-related arguments, just 5% of people said they experience family gatherings featuring drunken arguments over the season.

Beyond this, holiday tension is a reality known by many according to the survey.

81% of respondents said they have one extended family member who annoys them, and 57% said they have an extended family member who becomes prone to argue when they enjoy alcohol during family gathers.

And it's not just politics that families argue over (even though one-third of respondents said politics is typically the main reason for arguments over Christmas), 29% of arguments are started over longstanding family divisions.

The mixture of easily-agitated family disagreements, and the influence of alcohol leaves many families exacerbated.  68% said they would consider an alcohol-free family Christmas in order to avoid these arguments.

As we enter another holiday season family division will still be part of the festivities. But those celebrating this weekend can still hope that maybe this will be the year when “All is calm, and all is bright”.

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