Unit 8 Assignment
Patti Wigley
Kaplan University
CM220-30 College Composition II
Professor Leslie Campbell
Lets just say the things these eyes have seen and these ears have heard are awful and very sad. The affects that drugs can do to a family will destroy one from the inside out. Sitting on the sideline watching as a sister destroyed herself and her family was not an easy thing. As a result of this her children were either born addicted or became addicted later in life. To break the cycle of drug addicted families the community needs to offer counseling and this will help the community thrive by reducing drug use, and by default all of the problems that come with it.
As parents, grandparents and other family members we are a big influence on children. This influence can cause a child to either go in the direction of drugs or in the path of the straight and narrow. Per the Casa website “Parents who used tobacco or illegal drugs or abused alcohol put half the nation’s children—more than 35 million of them—at greater risk of substance abuse and other physical and mental illnesses. The report found that of all children under age 18:
13% lived in a household where a parent or other adult used illicit drugs
24% lived in a household where a parent or other adult was a binge or heavy drinker
37% lived in a household where a parent or other adult smoked or chewed tobacco” (2005). Intervention can help these families but it can also lower the crime rate in our
Research shows the young adolescents who are exposed before 14 years of ages are more likely to develop dependence or addiction to the substance used. Another primary protective prevention method is by good and strict parenting. Parents should be able to monitor their child’s activities or influences to prevent experimentation of substances and also strong close family bonds (Ford, 2016). Support from the family members is very critical in the preventive precautions of a child. Because again one of the major factors that lead to substance about starts at home. Parents must be present throughout the childhood years to guide and orient the child.
Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.
This particular age group is meant to receive support and motivation to explore their surroundings, however this can become problematic by use of illegal drugs. Families can have a dominant influence on how attitude, values, and behaviors of children is shaped. Peers tend to have a stronger influence than parents during the early stages of an individual's life. Research shows that marijuana use among adolescents was due to the fact that their friends and parents were drug users. Asides from that, family factors that escalate drug use include harsh discipline, failure to communicate on an emotional level and parental use of drugs, which serves as a poor role model for children.
The exposure to substance abuse can occur in the early stages of childhood, according to research at least 10% of newborns are exposed to the abuse (Gruber & Taylor, 2006). Research shows that there is correlation between substance abuse and both child neglect and maltreatment (Mendoza, 2013). Not only does substance abuse dull the parent’s ability to adequately care for their child, but it can lead to problems such as violence, neglect, and physical abuse in the family home (Crosson-Tower, 2013). According to Crosson-Tower (2013) 12% of the children live with a parent or guardian who abuses drugs or alcohol. The issue of dependency on drugs and alcohol has continued to increase in adults, adolescents, and even children (Crosson-Tower, 2013).
In today’s society people are talking about babies being born to drugs, and how could a mother do that to their unborn child. Drug addiction is a very serious issue that needs more research. We are still learning the effects of substance abuse. One problem that needs to be looked at is are there enough Rehabilitation Centers, to help the women who are addicted to these different street drugs. Also doctor and nurses should not judge these women but instead give them the best prenatal care that can be provided. We need to see what harm and side affects it has on the mother and baby, so that we can be able to understand better how to treat these women and get them off drugs before they do harm their babies.
In the book “Drugs and Sports”,on page 13, the author Rodney G. Peck states that “Experts believe that the disease of addiction can be passed down from parent to child.” He also states that, “ a teen who has a parent with an addiction (or a parent who is recovering from an addiction) may be more likely to become an addict as well. Teens should talk with their parents and not follow their steps to addiction. Drug addiction usually starts with something called a gateway drug. One commonly used gateway drug would be weed, the easiest drug to get in the streets and everywhere.
Drug addiction puts a lot of stress on other family members because the addict cannot be trusted and will do anything they can to get drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2017). Drug use around children is a risk for child abuse and neglect (Taylor, Coall, Marquis & Batten, 2016). Many times, parents that have drug addictions cannot adequately care for their young, and this burden is usually left to the grandparents to raise their own grandchildren (Taylor, Coall, Marquis & Batten, 2016). In regards to the financial cost of this epidemic, results found including rates of emergency room visits and substance abuse treatment admissions cost the American people $72.5 billion dollars in 2007 (Volkow, 2014). In 2016, the cost has risen to 78.5 billion dollars (HealthDay, 2017).
Drug use by parents and/or older siblings, coupled with tolerant parental viewpoints concerning drug usage by young people, can put youth at a greater risk of drug and alcohol use (Yu, 2003). Close parental supervision along with strongly promoted household rules influence and help deter the use of alcohol/drugs among youth (Yu, 2003). 7 million of American adolescents younger than 18 years old have parents that are alcoholics (Yu, 2003). Children of alcohol abusers have a greater chance of having behavioral and medical problems. This includes criminal behavior, learning disabilities, ADHD, emotional/ mental conditions, and problematic drinking or alcoholism once they’re adults (Yu,
The article that I chose from Nissen’s bibliography article is the role of family in preventing and intervening with substance use and misuse and family interventions that focus on young people. The article talks about how families plays a key part in helping prevent substance abuse and misuse by both promoting and encouraging safety and resilience. Young people are prone to become involved with drugs and not only harm themselves but their families as well. In the United States 12 percent of people in the population aged 12-17, have used some type of illicit drugs (Vellememan, Templeton & Copello, 2004). Young people are easily influenced into the use and misuse of substance abuse. When the child has a close family bond and a positive relationship with family, that closeness has been found to discourage their choices to try drugs and alcohol through positive reinforcements within the family structure. There is evidence that children who are from single parent
Since “parents are a crucial part of their child’s environment” (Sharma, 2016), it is no surprise that their behavior can affect how their children grow up to be. While yes, people who end up addicted to drugs can come from all sorts of lives there are some circumstances that may help to influence a person’s choice to turn to drugs. The likelihood that a person turns to drugs increases if they experience a traumatic event such as sexual, emotional, or physical abuse (Mirlashari, Demirkol, Salsali, Rafiey, & Jahanbani, 2012). Depending on the level of trauma can influence the level of drug addiction a person may have. If a person witnesses’ violence in their family or they are sexually victimized they are more likely to not only use drugs but to turn to hard drugs like
As soon as birth, children are exposed to new things; new life experiences that will develop the path of which direction their life will take. Adolescence is the most important time in a child’s life because it is where they learn appropriate behavior from their family and the outside world. Some children are able to use these experiences to differentiate at an early age what is right and what is wrong and hopefully carry this into adulthood. What happens when children are exposed to the wrong experiences at an early age? What happens if children assume that what they are seeing is okay because one of their parents are
Psychotropic medications are usually, and perhaps, overly prescribed as a first-line treatment for a range of psychiatric analyses in children in a diversity of clinical settings. A psychotropic drug (psychopharmaceutical) is a chemical material that changes brain function and results in adjustments in perception, mood, or consciousness. Consequently, these alterations often cause a bevy of side effects that create significant harm to prescribed patients. The brain of a child is infinitely more sensitive and susceptible to side effects from psychotropic drugs which makes their use even more dangerous. Adding further fuel to the fire, as Kardish states, “Children in the United States are on drugs for longer and more often than kids in any other country” (2015). Together with this dark truth, the over abundant usage and steadily increasing inclination towards psychotropic therapy amongst health professionals, is eliciting a dire and troubling situation that must be addressed by the medical horizon.
Drug addiction is a serious issue in not only America today, but globally. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance addiction is a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite the harmful consequences” (“What is drug addiction?”). Drug abuse affects not only the user, but those around the user as well. The actions of a drug user place a significant amount of worry on the people that are closest to them such as friends and family. Children with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can be severely affected by the actions of their parents which can cause them much harm in terms of biological and
Children can be subjected to the negative effects of parental substance use in a variety of different ways. For example, substance use during pregancy can cause detrimental outcomes for newborn infants by placing them at a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), being born with birth defects, developing behavioral and developmental delays, being born premature, etc. Children with addicted parents, are placed at a higher risk of: lacking appropriate supervision; lacking basic needs such as: food, clothing, housing, and medical care; exposure to violence; developing substance abuse issues themselves.
When someone says, “You get that laugh or that smile from your father or your mother.” You don’t always believe them, but in some studies today it is said that if your parents or anyone in your family has a history of a drug addiction those traits in their genes have a decent chance of being passed down to the children causing problems for them later in life. According to the Drugs and Addiction article in the 2009 Addiction Journal, “Family, twin and adoption studies suggest that the heritability of substance use disorders is moderate to