Summary: Socioeconomic Status

Parents who use drugs or alcohol are likely to overlook their children leaving them to their own diplomacy. Since such parents are often lost in their addictions, they are unable to provide the proper leadership that children need particularly throughout their growing days (Sindelar & Fiellin 2001). Teenagers bred in homes where a dear blood relation uses alcohol or drugs, have a superior propensity for developing the dependence afterward, generally because the family is more relaxed in terms of drugs use. The result of alcohol or drug abuse on relations involved and results may differ between families based on a numerous factors. Families affected by substance abuse have one thing in comparison; they reside in homes where traits

When an individual believes, and expects, to have positive effects from a certain drug (e.g., drinking alcohol to reduce stress and anxiety), the likelihood that the individual will abuse the drug is extremely high. Sociocultural factors also play a vital role in how frequently a substance is used, with family and friends being the most influential. A broken family home (e.g., marital problems, parent/sibling alcohol or drug use, and legal or psychiatric problems) can have a tremendous negative effect on a child and the decisions they make. A lack of emotional support from parents is found to increase drug use, whereas the lack of parental monitoring if often associated with higher drug use (Kring, 2014). The idea of being “popular” and having a ton of friends seems to be a common goal for the majority of adolescents and young adults. Social influence is explained by the fact that having peers who drink, influences drinking behavior; however, it is also known that individuals will choose friends with drinking patterns similar to their own. While growing up, most of us have always been told to choose our friends wisely; however, they neglected to tell us how difficult this can be.

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.

Considering that many teens are drinking illegally and also choosing to drive, many teens in our nation are lacking maturity. In Dying of Acceptance it states, “Alcohol abuse is involved in almost thirty percent of all academic problems, and about one-third of all emotional difficulties. A study done by the Nemours foundation found that teens who drink alcohol regularly are more likely to have problems in school, try drugs, and be delinquent” (Esherick 60). In addition to this fact, American teens show more likelihood to develop long-term alcoholism. Alcohol, like certain other drugs, is relatively easy to acquire. Some might even feel that alcohol is better than other drugs due to its easy accessibility. “Alcohol, like nicotine, is a gateway to later use of drugs” (Esherick 64). Gateway drugs are truly a gateway to trouble. Teens are more susceptible to the influence of drugs. If drugs are taken in the teenage years, it's likely that the teen will become addicted to the substances with little continuation. This shows how dangerous drugs can be and how a legal drug can be just as dangerous as an illegal drug. Drug use can result in highly delinquent behavior. Alone, drug use can create unwanted tensions. Young adults who use alcohol are not in the best state of mind, and will often influence the younger adolescents. Juvenile delinquency is commonly defined as general misbehavior involving children under the age of eighteen;

“Factors contributing to substance abuse in rural America include: Low educational attainment, poverty, unemployment, high-risk behaviors, and isolation”

There were more than 8.3 million children who lived with a parent or parents who actively abused or were dependent on an illegal drug or alcohol in 2008 (SAMSHA, 2009). Over the years comprehensive research has been accomplished and has determined that children raised by substance using parents are at an increased risk for developing substance use disorders (SUDs) in adulthood as a result of familial dissemination of substance abuse through both the environments in which the children are raised and genetic susceptibility (Merikangas et al., 1998; Merikangas & Avenevoli, 2000). However, there is an insignificant amount of literature examining the effects that the combined treatment and recovery of substance abusing parents has

Luther & D’Avanzo sample included 264 Suburban students who were mainly Caucasian, white-collared families, and 224 children of the minority from the inner city and of low SES. Substance use was evaluated via the frequency of drug use grid in the Monitoring the Future Study Survey (Johnston, O’Malley & Bachman,1984). The frequency of drug use grid is a 7-point scale that ranges from “never” to +40+ times” measuring the frequency of several different drugs over the past year (Johnston,O’Malley &Bachman,1984). Also, Other questions on the survey asked about depression, anxiety, and family. The study concluded that affluent youth had higher levels of anxiety and depression, due to pressures of family and society. It was also; found that the wealthier youth used cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs more frequently than youth with lower SES to cope with their

Other researchers have since corroborated the findings of high alcohol use, binge-drinking, and marijuana use among offspring of well-educated, white, high-income, two-parent families. But, substance use is not the only errant behavior among the children of privilege. Crime is also widely assumed to be a problem of youth in poverty, but comparable levels of wrongdoing among well-off suburban students and inner-city youth were found. What does differ are the types of rule-breaking, widespread cheating and random acts of delinquency, such as stealing from parents or peers, are more common among the rich. In these studies, are that across geographical areas and public and private schools, upper-middle-class youngsters show alarmingly high rates of serious disturbance. The high rate of maladjustment among affluent adolescents is strikingly counterintuitive. (Luthar,

According to Ethen et al. (2009), “20.1% among women consumed alcohol with an education of less than 12 years, and 37.1% among women with 16 or more years” (p 277). The increased education means more annual income for women with lower education. This means that the 37.1% of women with 16 or more years of education also has a higher annual income than those women who have less education. The study reveals that the higher the

Strong parental disapproval of alcohol use was linked to lower rates of prescription drug misuse in African American teens, while parental disapproval of marijuana use was a stronger factor for Hispanic teens. Regardless, of the ethnic/racial background both parents and family members are against misusing substances in general and play a strong role in protecting their adolescents from misusing prescription medicine, whether it be alcohol, marijuana, or tobacco. This illustrates a positive step in moving forward to understanding specific culture factors of substance abuse. Some Caucasian teens having close friends that reject substance use have a lesser rates of prescription drug misuse, though their peer opinions had little influence for African American or Hispanic teens. Parents can help their adolescents navigate towards friends with shared substance use disapproval attitudes .The article confirms racial/ethnic disparities in substance use by adolescents, provides preliminary evidence that disapproval by important socialization factors especially parents has a substantial effect on prescription drug misuse. Those results offer indications how the racial/ethnic deviations are arrived. Some past research of substance use in teens have mainly used race as a rational for observed modifications.

The cost of alcohol and substance abuse in the United States reaches heights of four hundred eighty four billion dollars per year (“Magnitude”). That’s about seven hundred eighty times the amount it cost to diagnose and treat sexually transmitted diseases in the year 2000 (Chesson). The sole purpose of this is not to persuade you one way or the other on this topic. Nor is the purpose to apologize for this social issue. The purpose of this writing is to employ data showing the societal effects parental addictions have on children, to show how this data has remained relevant in society, and to show how it is affecting our future members of society.

In examining the use and abuse of alcohol and drugs, many of the studies often focus upon demographics that are predominantly concerned with a person 's socio-economic status. However, in actuality, one 's gender played a significant role as well, not necessarily because of biological issues, but due to social norms and so forth. In order to gain a full understanding about the pathways for alcohol and drugs, it 's necessary to examine its evolving history in the United States from the past few centuries and the roles of wealth and social class, social norms, and availability in combination with gender differences. It will demonstrate the fact that each gender has been more susceptible to using some of these specific substances at differing rates and that drug use that is illegal today was once considered to be normal.

Many middle-class people have obtained a higher education. Though these individuals may consume alcohol, they are less likely to use drugs (Faupel, et al. 202). Also, I speculate that while in college, these individuals learned about drug use in biology, chemistry, and psychology and sociology courses. They many have had personal experiences while in college and “grew out” of

University of Vermont used research data of more than ten thousand individuals to come to this conclusion. This link may not be so straight forward. A 2015 study suggested that socio-economic status is responsible for alcohol dependence in some ways.

The use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs has long been linked with several negative outcomes for youth,