Risk & Protective Factors for Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is a very serious problem in the United States. Its ramifications include long-term health problems, family difficulties, loss of wages, homelessness and death, according to Medline Plus. Identifying risks and protective factors can help parents, spouses and other loved ones provide support to help prevent and treat a substance abuse problem in someone they know. Risk factors are the behaviors and circumstances that may lead to substance abuse; protective factors are those that can help prevent it.

• Prescription pills

Commonly Abused Substances

• Marijuana is one of the most commonly used illegal drugs in the United States, with about 25 million Americans reporting using it in 2006, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health performed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Prescription drugs are the second most common, with an estimated 20 percent of the population using them for nonmedical purposes at least once, says Medline Plus. Tobacco is the most commonly abused legal drug, with 73 million Americans over age 12 using it at least once in the month before being surveyed, also according to the SAMHSA survey.

Early Risk Factors

• Some risk factors can be identified as early as infancy or childhood, says the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). These factors include a difficult temperament, aggressive behavior, a lack of self-control and poor behavior or performance in school. Ineffective parenting, a parent or caretaker who uses drugs and who fails to form proper parent-child attachments increases the risk of future substance abuse.

Early Protective Factors

• Just as risk factors can present early in life, so can protective factors, to prevent future problems. NIDA suggests parents form a close bond with their children, be involved in their lives and set clear rules and expectations. Talking to children in an age-appropriate way about drugs can help build the foundation for later communication. Teach children how to deal with stress, anger, impulse control and peer pressure.

Community and Social Risks

• Communities in which commonly abused substances are readily available increase the risk of drug abuse. In a survey performed by SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies, 58 percent of surveyed youths reported that marijuana was fairly easy to obtain and more than one-third said that someone had tried to sell or offered to give them marijuana. Friends' attitudes about drug use also plays a role in risk or protective factors. Peer pressure can motivate children and teenagers to either avoid or engage in substance abuse.

Substance Abuse Prevention

• Families and communities can work together to prevent substance abuse. At home, parents should look for warning signs and take immediate action, either by removing the child from the influence or by seeking treatment when abuse happens. Prevention programs through school, work or religious institutions are also beneficial. There are universal programs aimed at the general population, selective programs aimed at high-risk groups within a population and indicated programs for those already experimenting with drugs, according to NIDA.