Challenging Childhoods

Abstract

Concern is increasing about children growing up in families where there are substance use problems but relatively little is known about the perspectives of the children themselves. We report on a qualitative study with young people who grew up in such families, exploring their accounts of their daily lives at home, school and leisure. We focus on the everyday interactions, practices and processes they felt helped them to 'get by' in their challenging childhoods, showing how the protective factors thought to promote 'resilience' were seldom in place for them unconditionally and without associated costs.

Living With a Mentally Ill Parent

“…Some of the strategies the adolescents actively used to manage their family situations—such as taking responsibility, being in “emergency alert mode,” and taking time out—resonate with practices identified in other studies of children living with parents who have physical or mental health problems (Almvik & Ytterhus, 2004; Backett-Milburn et al, 2008; Evans & de Souza, 2008; Fjone et al, 2009; Mordoch & Hall, 2008). Almvik and Ytterhus found that children used two types of strategies for coping with their parent’s mental illness: strategies of adjustment, where they tried to take responsibility to help the family achieve balance, and strategies of avoidance, where they withdrew from the situations at home.…”

“…More recently, however, several authors have criticized the dominance of the risk and resilience discourse (Aldridge, 2006;Backett-Milburn et al, 2008;Gladstone et al, 2006;Mordoch & Hall, 2002). A focus on outcomes based on pathology and individual attributes has been prominent, whereas little is known about everyday social processes, various contexts, interactions, and incidental events in the lives of children (Backett-Milburn et al;Mordoch & Hall, 2002). Moreover, Gladstone et al have pointed out that within this risk and resilience framework, children are viewed primarily as being at risk of developing mental illness themselves, and those who remain well are considered to be extraordinarily resilient.…”

“…The individual attributes of children who appeared to thrive despite their life circumstances have been conceptualized as resilience. The term is usually used both to encapsulate the potential for survival and growth in the face of adversity and to identify protective factors and how they can be promoted by social institutions (Backett-Milburn, Wilson, Bancroft, & Cunningham-Burley, 2008; Mordoch & Hall, 2002). The literature on risk and resilience has contributed valuable insight into elements of risk and protective factors.…”

Substance Abuse and Parenting Among African American Mothers of Adolescents

“…Thus, the academic performance measure may represent the mothers' vicarious experiences and serve as a self-appraisal in relation to others (Bandura, 1994). Substance abusing mothers may believe that if their adolescent is performing on the same or a higher level as other youth, then their parenting is effective especially given that youth's lower academic performance has been found to result from maternal substance abuse (e.g., Backett-Milburn et al, 2008). Though the evidence of the association of perceived parenting ability and adolescent academic attainment is limited, it would seem rational if the negative behaviors of youth can influence parenting beliefs, then the positive behaviors of youth could also influence parenting beliefs.…”

“…Older youth with substance-abusing mothers are more likely to display psychopathology (Ohannessian et al, 2004) and have lower academic achievement (Backett-Milburn, Wilson, Bancroft, & Cunningham-Burley, 2008). In a review of the literature, Solis, Shadur, Burns, and Hussong (2012) found that maternal substance abuse can result in the mother being less responsive and warm, and exhibit more authoritarian and punitive behaviors toward their adolescent youth.…”