The Effect of Substance Abuse on Family

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Substance misuse characteristics2

Substance misuse affects for the individual4

Dependent use4

Combination use5

Chaotic and unrestrained use5

Substance misuse affects for children6

Comparison between single home families and two parent families8

Conclusion9

References11

The Effect of Substance Abuse on Family

Introduction

It is beyond debate that the use or misuse of substance has severe impact on the well being of family. The term substance refers to both the illicit and non illicit forms of drugs. The illicit drugs include heroin, opium, benzodiazepines, cocaine, and amphetamines. The non illicit drugs include alcohol and other solvents or prescribed drugs. It is important to distinguish the concept of substance use from substance misuse. The use of substance by a person becomes misuse when the person in question uses it to the level where the usage becomes hazardous for both the behaviour and health of the person taking drugs as well as the life of the other people close to him such as family, peers and other loved ones. The harmful behaviour in the person hinders the person's ability to take good care of their family which is the family's fundamental right (Forrester 2011).

The parental substance misuse has repercussions for children. Children are not only neglected as a consequence of it, but are even subjected to other types of child abuse. These are physical, psychological, sexual and abandonment. In most cases the parental substance misuse leads to abandonment where the parent is unable to take care of the basic needs of children. In the worst cases, the behavioural harm of substance misuse of parents leads to physical abuse in children.

The parental substance misuse has physical, behavioural, social and emotional or mental consequences for the children. The paper discusses in detail the affects of parental substance misuse and compares the affect thereof on single home families and two parent families.

Substance misuse characteristics

In order to study the impact of substance misuse on family, it is first imperative to develop an understanding of the characteristics of substance misuse. It is these characteristics that make the parent incapable of caring for their child. These characteristics are listed hereunder.

Substance abuse has the social, mental and physical effects on the user (Velleman, 2007).

It affects the behaviour of parents. This includes the behaviour of the parent towards the child and other members of the family, as well as their behaviour towards any social service that is available. Substance abuse also has negative implications on the family in terms of environment at home.

The society and the attitude of significant other towards the parental substance misuse. The society associated stigma with such parents and families whereby the children growing up in such families are considered disturbed.

The attitude of social service providers available is also important in that it determines the level of efficacy of the services provided. The problems associated with parental substance misuse are best curtailed when the service providers rule judgment out of the profession (Snowden, 2008).

In addition, there are other important issues such as domestic violence which ...