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Effect parental drug abuse has on children
Effects of substance abuse on children
Effect parental drug abuse has on children
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Moreover, children of substance abusing parents often develop behavioral problems. Just as with the physical and emotional problems, children who were exposed to prenatal substances are more likely to develop disruptive behavioral disorders such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder (Smith and Wilson 2). Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), are often disobedient, rebel against rules, like to blame others for their own mistakes, and deliberately attempt to annoy and take a revenge on others (“Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder” 1). Behavioral problems also develop from parenting impairment. Parental substance use is usually associated with parenting impairments that is characterized by very little monitoring, and poor discipline
Children all over the world are exposed to the many risk, just like Dave. Dave did not face any biological risk factors like low-birth weight, being a premature baby, or prenatal alcohol exposure. However, Dave was faced with many environmental risks. One risk is the fact that he lived in a household with two alcoholics, this put Dave at even more risk of having emotional problems than children that live with nonalcoholic parents. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry’s Fact for Families page, “One in five adult Americans have lived with an alcoholic relative while growing up.” They go on to state, “Alcoholism runs in families, and children of alcoholics are four times more likely than other children to become alcoholics themselves. Compounding the psychological impact of being raised by a parent who is suffering from alcohol abuse is the fact that most children of alcoholics have experienced some form of neglect or abuse.”
In the article “Children of Alcoholics” produced by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the author explains the negative effect of parental alcoholism on their children’s emotional wellbeing, when he writes, “Children with alcoholic parents are more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, antisocial behavior, relationship difficulties, behavioral problems, and/or alcohol abuse. One recent study finds that children of drug-abusing fathers have the worst mental health issues (Children of Alcoholics 1). Walls reflects upon her childhood experiences in which her father would become drunk and not be able to control his behavior, as she writes, “After working on the bottle for a while, Dad turned into an angry-eyed stranger who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up Mom or anyone else who got in his way. When he’d had his fill of cussing and hollering and smashing things up, he’d collapse” (Walls 23). The Walls children, who frequently encounter their father’s abusive behavior, are affected mentally in the same way that national studies have shown. Jeanette Walls describes how, after drinking, her father’s behavior becomes cruel and intolerable through his use of profanity, threats, and angry, even violent, actions. In a conventional family, a parent has the responsibility of being a role model to influence their children in a positive way as they develop. Unfortunately, in the Walls family and other families with alcoholic parents, children are often subject to abuse and violence, which places them at risk, not only physically, but mentally. Rex’s irrational behavior when he is drunk is detrimental to the children’s upbringing, causing them to lose trust in their parents, have significantly lower self-esteem and confidence, and feel insecure. Rex’s behavior contributes to Jeanette’s
Conduct Disorder (CD) appears to be linked with substance abuse disorders (SUD) among adolescents when compared to other mental disorders within this population. There is a strong correlation between childhood diagnosis of CD because of environmental and genetic factors and is more common among boys than girls when there is a positive parental history of SUD. Pagliaro & Pagliaro (2012) have indicated that a dual diagnosis involving CD may be mediated among adolescents with childhood A-D/HD by the factor of deviant peer affiliation and co-morbidity of CD or of ODD is at an increased risk for developing a peer-mediated SUD during adolescence.
The earlier children begin to experience adversity the more detrimental and long-term the psychological, physical, emotional, and behavioral effects will be; exposure to multiple adversities increases the likelihood of children developing psychological and behavioral issues. Researchers in this study first collected data from previous research done on the relationship between ACEs, delinquency, and substance abuse from Wave I of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW II), which is a national longitudinal study of a number of children from the ages of birth to 18 years. Investigations performed by child welfare agencies in the US determined whether these children were victims of child abuse and/or neglect. NSCAW officials collected data by having in-person interviews with guardians, teachers, caseworkers, and the children who were the subjects of the
Since family structures are taking on various forms, families have become more complex and evolving from the traditional nuclear family to single parent families, stepfamilies, foster families, and multigenerational families. When a family member abuses substances, the effects on the family may differ depending on the structure. Extended family members may experience feelings of abandonment, anxiety, fear, anger, concern, embarrassment, or guilt; they may wish to ignore or cut ties with the person abusing substances. Effects on families may continue for generations. Neighbors, friends, and coworkers also experience the effects of substance abuse since the person who abuses substances often is unreliable.
A child’s guardian or parent ignores the signs of an abused child, which leads to a malfunction to the child. The guardian or parent fails to seek a psychological therapist which can help intervene to cause less psychological problems. The mistreatment that the child received affects a child’s mentality, brain size, and development due to the lack of a psychological therapist. The abuse that a child receives causes a child to malfunction, since they felt that they were not protected and were harmed. Although people state that one knows the meaning of abuse, yet they lack the extent and limitations of the term “abuse.” According to the article of “Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect”, the definition is clearly stated by the government of what should be considered abuse and neglect which consists, “Any recent act or failure to act on
Earls, F., Reich, W., Jung, K. G., & Cloninger, C. R. (2006). Psychopathology in children of alcoholic and antisocial parents. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 12(4), 481 - 487.
In the United States, twenty million children are experiencing physical, verbal and emotional abuse from parents who are addicted to alcohol. Growing up in an alcoholic house can leave emotional scars that may last a lifetime. This is tragic because we consider that childhood is the foundation on which our entire lives are fabricated. When a child’s efforts to bond with an addicted parent are handicapped, the result is confusion and intense anxiety. In order to survive in a home deficient, of healthy parental love, limits, and consistency, they must develop “survival skills” or defense mechanisms very early in life.
When children are involved in a family structure that abuses alcohol or drugs an array of dysfunction becomes evident. Children might be subjected to child maltreatment, child abuse, physical/sexual abuse, or neglect, among many other inappropriate parenting practices. The alarming statistics of children that
Being a parent is not easy work, so I’ve heard, you have young minds watching your every move wanting to be like you and learning what is right and wrong. Inappropriate drug users don’t make very good parents, granted there are a few that do, the child is left unattended or if the child is around the user the young mind adapts to the seen behavior. The child grows up and now society has another drug user, maybe not to the same degree, to watch after. Children of today are tomorrows adult’s parents are ideal on how the future generations
I am a 15 year old student from Waukon High School in Iowa, and I wanted to talk to you about child abuse. I think that child abuse is a terrible thing, and the people that do it should be sent away for a long time. The people that do it are terrible people because they abuse children that did not do anything to them. They should never gain their right to see their children, or be able to go near any children, and be with them by themselves, or with anybody else that wants to hurt children. The people that hurt the innocent children should be questioned and accounted guilty for child abuse. They could not be ruder and treat the children with more disrespect than they already do.
The womb is a complicated place. While in utero, mothers are highly responsible for the nourishment and safety of the fetus, which can influence both the development of the child and long-term behaviour, leading to potential risks for serious antisocial behaviors later in life. Studies have shown that fetuses exposed to toxic or diseased prenatal environment such as opiates, a drug derived from opium, during pregnancy will tend to be at a higher risk for conduct issues in their teenage years (Dodge & Pettit, 2003, p. 351). Exposure to alcohol in the prenatal stages can also result to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), which is a serious medical condition (Brown, Connor, & Adler, 2012). It results in youth having a high rate of self-regulation problems, antisocial behavior, and conduct disorders (Brown et al., 2012).
Furthermore the children of families that are chemically dependent are more likely to development negative psychological and physiological effects. In a recent reading by Scott Russell sanders he recalls some of the mental traumas associated with such abuse of having a family member that was chemically dependent on alcohol. “When drunk, our father was clearly in his wrong mind. He became a stranger, as fearful to us as any graveyard lunatic, not quite frothing at the mouth but fierce enough, quick-tempered, explosive; or else he grew maudlin and weepy, which frightened us nearly as much”(Norton
Kaleb Prudhomme 5/3/2014 Paper Health. Child abuse is a terrible thing to do to a child. If there was no child abuse, there would be more kids on the earth. I seriously am not ready to be a parent yet. My baby died on the first day, which was completely an accident but still a tragedy.
Child abuse is a very serious problem that continues to happen all over the world. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, defines child abuse as a failure to act as a parent or caregiver which results in physical/emotional harm, sexual abuse, and in some cases death. There are many different types of child abuse such as emotional, physical, neglect, and sexual. With each type of abuse there are warning signs you can spot before it is too late. When a child is abused there is a huge possibility that it can cause them to have many long term effects.