What Is The Role Of Substance Abuse In Children

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.

Another considerable factor of this problem is the influence these substances have on children. Alcoholism in the home is an extremely hard issue to cope with as a child. Domestic violence, which is often worsened by alcohol abuse, causes a lot of mental issues that affect children permanently. Many kids do not have a stable home and are forced to see their parents and loved ones struggle with drinking (Hopkins 7). Suffering through the effects of drugs and alcohol also make education a challenge. Children often times stay home from school or are inattentive during class due to lack of sleep from late-night parties or rowdiness at home.This makes it almost impossible to succeed later in life and lets the problem continue onto the next generation.

The majority of children living in a dysfunctional family with a drug addicted parent will not develop a secure attachment with another individual, where the relationship revolves around intimacy and mutual understanding. Parents who are codependent on each other have learned to regard the dysfunction as normal, and their children could be susceptible to numerous scenarios. They could become the target of their parent’s abuse, either sexual or physical. The children of codependent parents could easily gain access to drugs or alcohol since no one is paying attention to the child. The codependent parents are preoccupied with the alcoholic or drug addicted parent, and they might never bother to realize their child is in grave danger. The codependent parent’s children might never recover fully from the trauma, abuse, or neglect inflicted on them. In addition, the children learn to become adults who repeat the vicious cycle of domestic violence or abuse themselves. Children of codependent parent might grow resilient despite

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).

Although all sorts of families can be devastated by addiction, but single parent units (the most common lower class structure) are the most obscured. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches supports, “In every family unit, each person plays a role (or multiple roles) to help the family function better and to maintain a level of homeostasis, stability and balance. When substance abuse is added to this dynamic, the family roles naturally shift to adjust to the new behaviors associated with drug or alcohol use, and to continue maintaining order and balance.”4 In single parent units there is an inability of a second parent to fill the void role of the addicted parent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states, “Frequently, children may act as surrogate spouses for the parent who abuses substances. For example, [young] children may develop elaborate systems of denial to protect themselves against that reality of the parent’s addiction. Because that option does not exist in a single‐parent household with a parent who abuses substances, children are likely to behave in a manner that is not age‐appropriate to compensate for the parental deficiency.”2 So a child growing up in a compromised family unit where addiction is present may develop altered norms and mature into an addict themselves.4

Although the agency pushes for legal charges against adults who involve in child abuse, the agency usually goes beyond the charges. In ach and very case that is reported, the agency attempts to understand the underlying factors of the abuse. The agency has realized that parents who abused alcohol where for times more likely to abuse their children than the parents who did not abuse alcohol. In such cases, most instances of abuse occurred when the parents were intoxicated. Further, substance abuse has also been related to recurrence of child neglect and abuse. Studies have shown that parents who abuse substances are most likely to abuse their children continually that parents who do not abuse substances. In literature review, parents who are normal and who are not abusing any drugs of

Nothing makes a child grow up faster than having a parent who is addicted to drugs. A child of an addicted parent has no choice but to act as an adult. These children are often left alone and when they aren’t alone, their addicted parent is usually passed out in a drug induced stupor; leaving the child to fend for themselves and/or their siblings. Does having a drug addicted parent have an effect on a child’s emotional development? If so, does this form of abuse that is recognized in the category of neglect have a long lasting effect on the child into adulthood?

At times, the community is unsafe and damaging to the child’s development with current research, they are finding that environmental factors with a high crime rate, poverty, acts of violence and high drug distribution are top contributors that can lead to abuse. This can result in depression, substance abuse and social isolation from the parent and are seen more likely to experience abuse or maltreatment. Although abuse in itself is contributing factor, the likely hood increases with age. During the interview Kaleb discussed how substance abuse in itself can be a leading factor on its own. From his statistics, from the Child Welfare League of America about 40 to 80 percent of families affected by substance abuse. Which as a result of issues of substance abuse the child is more at risk of sexual abuse from the caregivers. Substance abuse often creates a domino effect for the child later in life, such as young pregnancy, problems in school, incarcerated in as a juvenile and the inability to cope with the trauma they experienced. He also stated that substance abusers are the most difficult to treat since many adults do not want to seek proper treatment and more likely to have their child permanently removed to long care foster

Research indicates that children exposed to parental substance use are at increased risk for exposure to trauma and neglect (Kandel, 1990), linking with an increased risk for later developing SUDs (Mills, Teesson, Ross, & Peters, 2006 as cited in Khoury et al., 2010). Yet, as previously stated there is little research to show the modifying affects that treatment and recovery can have on the children of substance abusers.

Per Alati, Baker, Betts, Connor, Little, Sanson, and Olsson (2014), heavy parental alcohol consumption has played a role in early alcohol consumption of adolescents between twelve and fifteen years old. Mothers who drink heavily when their children are young also contribute to the development of an alcohol disorder in male adolescents and young adults (Alati et al, 2014). Parental use and abuse of drugs and alcohol is associated with adolescents as young as twelve years of age experimenting with drugs and alcohol (Sittner, 2015). Parents who use drugs and alcohol demonstrate to their children that drug and alcohol use is normal and acceptable. Thus, adolescents believe there is nothing wrong with using drugs and alcohol because their parents are using drugs and alcohol. In addition to parental substance use contributing to adolescent substance use, poor parent-child relationships also play a

Parental substance abuse impacts a child’s psychological development. According to Livestrong.com “When a child is raised in an environment with substance abuse his or her risk for developing a mental health disorder increases.” (Butler). A serious element of psychological disorders that develop from a parent who abuses drug is severe anxiety disorders or depression. These afflictions in itself are enough to deter even the strongest adult from living a normal life. Depression and anxiety cause a child to withdraw from their friends or siblings, making them feel alone and suffer from suicidal thoughts. Anxiety disorders stemming from parental substance abuse also lead to learning disabilities, causing children to work below their potential. This creates a potentially negative environment for a child, causing them to behave inappropriately which leads to disciplinary actions by the school. One other psychological disorder that stems from parental substance abuse is eating disorders. This comes from the low self-esteem a child suffers and in an attempt to be perfect; a child is willing to bring physical harm to themselves or their bodies. I have seen this to be the greatest side effect of my ex-husband’s drug abuse upon our children. My two boys suffer from depression and anxiety at varying levels. My oldest son has been diagnosed with ulcers from constantly worrying about his father’s sobriety.

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.

“Alcohol abuse and alcoholism can affect all aspects of a person’s life.” Even though it is legal for anybody at least age twenty-one and over, alcohol is commonly abused among adults. When people think about alcohol abuse, they usually only focus on the one person who is drinking in excess, but what if that person has a family or is a parent? How does alcoholism affect their children or loved ones? The majority of people would suggest that binge drinking only mainly affects the one person doing it, they do not realize that it affects their children and families as a whole. In general, children and families are affected in a negative way when combated with the issue of a parent or very close relative being an alcoholic. First, I will

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.