A Family Perspective for Substance Abuse: Implications from the Literature

Abstract

This paper calls for researchers and treatment providers to increase their recognition of the role that family and family functioning has for understanding the incidence and impact of substance abuse. Substance abuse is identified as a family problem by exploring its occurrence within families as well as its impact on marital relationship, family violence, and child abuse and neglect. The impact of substance abuse on the roles of spouses and parents are examined, as is the impact of substance abuse on children at various developmental stages.The role of the family as participant in active substance abuse as well as a valuable treatment resource is also explored. Finally, the authors present recommendations for increasing the focus on family in substance abuse research.

An Intergenerational Perspective on Risk and Protective Factors in Multi-Problem Poor Familes Living in Cape Town

“…Data gathered from participants showed that they experienced parental substance abuse and domestic violence, and most of the participants were subjected to child abuse or neglect, as is supported by the literature (Gruber & Taylor, 2006;James & Gilliland, 2001;Strausser & Fewell, 2010). Kaminer and Eagle (2010:17) report that in 2002 the Western Cape presented with the highest rates of gender-based violence in South Africa.…”

“…James and Gilliland (2001) indicate that children exposed to substance abuse in the family http://socialwork.journals.ac.za/ experience deleterious effects, including feelings of worthlessness, self-blame, withdrawal and poor academic performance. Strausser and Fewell (2010) and Gruber and Taylor (2006) indicate that there is a high correlation between parents that abuse substances and domestic violence, as well as between dysfunctional parenting and substance abuse. There is an increased risk of child abuse and neglect amongst substance-abusing parents.…”

Child-Parent Relationships and Parents’ Preventive Behaviors Affecting the Onset of Substance Use in Children: My Family Study

“…Researchers have categorized the factors contributing to substance abuse at the family level into two groups: protective factors and risky factors (15). Protective factors contributing to substance abuse prevention at the family level include: the presence of proper parental supervision, the encouragement of a secure and healthy parent/child attachment, the monitoring of behavior and the application of effective discipline, the healthy communication of pro-social family values, the existence of parental involvement in the child's life, the establishment of supportive parenting practices (emotional, cognitive, social and financial) (16), the fostering of an effective parent-child relationship (17), the promotion of parental friendliness (18), and the formation of healthy communication patterns (19,20). Among the concepts mentioned above, competent parenting has long been considered a powerful protective factor (21)(22)(23).…”

Mental health conditions among adolescents of substance dependent parents

“…For instance, in their family lives, they face problems, like, stressful marital conflicts, poor interpersonal communication with family members, frequent arguments on trivial family matters, financial stress, nagging, etc. 7 A substance dependent person generally suffers from problems like, loss of behavioral control, psycho-physiological withdrawal of substance dependency, various mental illnesses, disturbances in physical health, exposure to domestic violence and trauma, poverty, crime, homelessness, etc. 8 Substance dependency of an individual and the resultant life problems as mentioned above cumulatively affects the mental health of every member of their family.…”