Substance Abuse Research Paper

Substance abuse is a major public health concern that affects not just the users themselves, but also the user’s family members and friends. Substance abuse disorder comprises a wide variety of behaviors that include addiction, excessive usages, and dangerous substance-induced behavior. It is also associated with a large variety of harmful consequences to the addict themselves as well as other people within their inner circle such as their children. Findings for this paper suggests that children of substance-abusing parents have a high risk of developing physical, mental health, academic, behavioral issues such as delinquency and adolescent substance abuse problems. For the most part, there has always been intervention resources for parents …show more content…
“In 2008, child protective service agencies in America received more than 3.3 million reports of child abuse, and of these children, 772,000 were determined to be victims of parental maltreatment. Children whose parents suffer from substance addiction run a greater rick of physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect” (Solis, Shadur, Burns & Hussong, 2012). The substance abuse of parents can lead to a child failing to thrive as an infant or going through withdrawals themselves, suffering neurological damage, doing poorly in school, suffering from physiological damage such as PTSD and even becoming a juvenile drug addict or drug dealers themselves. In Proverbs 20:11 we are taught that even small children are known by their actions, but are their conduct really pure and upright? These children suffer the consequences of their parent’s mistakes, which they will carry with them into adulthood. The impact on the children from parents who suffer from substance addiction has lasting effects and in some cases, they can be very …show more content…
The individuals who take part in the survey report whether they have ever used specific substances in their lives, over the past year, and over the past month. With most of the analyses focusing on current usage, according to the most recent survey, more than 24 million people had used an illicit drug in the month prior to completing the survey (Ahrnsbrak et al., 2017). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids are the main cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States “Opioids were involved in 42,249 deaths in 2016, and opioid overdose deaths were five times higher in 2016 than 1999” (CDC, 2017). An estimated eleven million children in the United States live in a home where at least one parent struggles with some form of addiction (Oliver, 2016). Parental drug abuse is one of the major reasons why children are entering the foster care system and it is only going to get higher. “In 2005, 22 percent of children who entered foster care did so at least partially because of parental drug abuse; in 2015 that number was 32 percent, according to Child Trends’ analysis of 2015 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System data” (Williams & Devooght.

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