Family Issues in Drug Abuse

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University states that half of all children in America reside with a parent or an adult who uses illegal drugs or consumes alcohol heavily. Drug abuse tends to run in families and can have harsh consequences on household members, especially children.

Affected Children

• A number of factors can influence how much a child will be affected by his parent's drug abuse. The includes how old the child was when the parent started abusing drugs, how serious the drug abuse is, how capable the parent is of performing her parental duties in a healthful manner, the child's personality and how isolated he is from friends and his community. Inconsistent rules and discipline and conflict in the home can be stressful to the child, worsening the devastating effects of substance abuse. Conflicts in the home of substance abusers often include shouting and arguments marked by poor communication, resulting in an unstable home for the child.

Divorce

• The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse states that drug abuse increases the chance of divorce. In the event that substance abuse does not cause the marriage to end in divorce, it still has an impact on the quality of the marriage. This can be seen in alcoholic men who tend to have lower quality relationships with their spouses than non-alcoholic men. Similarly, male alcoholics have more issues with sexual dysfunction than non-alcoholic males.

Financial Issues

• Drug abusers face a higher risk of sustaining accidents or injuries at work and may have long periods of unemployment, causing enormous financial burden to their families. Employees who are heavy drug users are more likely to skip work more often than non-drug abusers. Family members are forced to work harder to pay the bills when the substance abuser loses his job, becomes incarcerated or hospitalized as a result of his drug abuse.According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, in 2002, 17 percent of substance abusers received money from family members to help pay for out-of-pocket treatment costs while 44 percent had to use their personal savings or earnings.

Signs and Symptoms

• If the child is the substance abuser, there are certain signs and symptoms that family members can watch for, such as absenteeism from school, failing grades, getting rid of old friends and gaining new ones, mood swings, aggressiveness and forgetfulness. Adult substance abusers typically display sudden changes in work attendance and in their quality of work, reluctance to accept responsibility, secrecy or stealing from the home, employer or friends.

Getting Help

• SAMHSA's Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator can be helpful in providing help for children and adult substance abusers. However, for substance abusers with children, SAMHSA's Focus on Families treatment program is the best route. The program aims to lower the risk of relapse, reduce drug-use, teach coping skills, and improve family management skills.