How Does Addiction Affect Families

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Summary

The proposed paper will revolve around the problem of addiction and its impact on families, their functioning, relations between members, and children. At the same time, the importance of emotional support and empathy in families in treating individuals with this problem and reducing the number of relapses is also outlined. In this regard, the following thesis will be offered:

Addiction has multiple adverse effects on families and all members preconditioning deterioration of relations and high risk of the development of abuse among children, while emotional support and empathy can help to decrease the number of relapses and help to treat patients.

To prove the given statement and provide credible evidence, peer-reviewed articles will be used as the central source of information. It will guarantee the relevance of findings and their practical utility. The presented work will offer a detailed analysis of the problem, along with its discussion.

Introduction

Family is a basic institution of society as it guarantees its functioning and evolution. For this reason, there is much attention devoted to the peculiarities of this unit and factors that have both negative and positive effects on it. The sober fact is that the health of all members of the family is a key aspect of the improvement of relations between all individuals belonging to it and the evolution of this institution. At the same time, some stressors or undesired behaviors might have a pernicious impact on families and all their members. For this reason, it is essential to assess all possible factors related to the functioning of households with the pivotal aim to determine their effects and offer ways to avoid undesired consequences, and establish a paradigm that will foster the evolution of this unit. Addiction can be related to the factors mentioned above, as its negative effects are apparent today. In this regard, the paper will delve into the problem of substance abuse and its influence on families.

Background

The problem of addiction remains one of the major concerns for the modern healthcare sector. The threatening statistics demonstrate the growing number of adults and children who engage in these undesired behaviors and acquire different kinds of issues related to the adverse effects of substances on mental and physical health (Atadokht, Hajloo, Karimi, & Narimani, 2015). Regarding the selected topic, multiple researchers admit the existence of various threats for families where parents or children have addictive behaviors.

They include deterioration of relations, the appearance of health concerns, acquisition of new addictive behaviors. At the same time, there is a solid body of evidence showing the emotional support provided by individuals within a household can have a significant impact on the reduction in the number of relapses and better recovery processes. With this in mind, it is the following research paper will encompass knowledge related to the issue and outline the most critical assumptions and findings related to the effect of substance addiction on families.

Importance of Family Support

Addiction might have multiple effects on the emotional state of families and trigger different responses among their members. Moreover, in a high number of cases, abuse can be promoted by responses from close people. The results of studies show that there is a significant positive correlation between the frequency of relapse and tolerance, negative attitude, emotional response, and expressed emotion (Atadokht et al., 2015).

It means that individuals with addiction introduce specific changes in the structure of existing relations and precondition the emergence of various alterations in their reactions. At the same time, this factor remains an important component of the given problem as the decrease of perceived social support from family, or close people is linked to the increase of relapse probability (Atadokht et al., 2015). In this regard, addiction affects families by triggering various types of responses, and their character, either positive or negative, influences the frequency of new cases, which is vital for treatment and recovery.

Negative Attitudes

Today, addiction is recognized as a disease presupposing a significant impact of biological, social, and psychological factors on the health and behavior of an individual. It means that the given state should be considered an illness and treated appropriately, which presupposes specific changes in attitudes and mentalities. Unfortunately, addiction might also affect family members in undesired ways by triggering the appearance of negative emotions related to a person who has this problem. The given alteration in relations might precondition the increase in the number of new cases and severer reactions.

Moreover, the success of treatment depends on the support provided by close people, and negative moods and attitudes will reduce the change for complete recovery (Atadokht et al., 2015). It is one of the problems that can be seen in households with a person who has this health issue. The frequency of this sort of reaction remains high, which means that substance abuse can be considered a facilitator of negative emotions in families.

Adolescent Addiction

Speaking about addiction among adolescents, its effects on family might also be severe. There is still limited research related to the effects of substance dependence among teens on parenting and family function, which introduces the need for additional investigation (Choate, 2015). However, the existing evidence shows the critical deterioration of relations between a young person and parents preconditioned by the appearance of the problem and its development.

The adverse effects might include the lack of understanding between family members, increased frequency of conflicts, absence of trust, and detachment between parents and their children. Studies also show that children have fewer chances to adapt their behaviors and engage in cooperation (Choate, 2015). Under these conditions, the opposition of young and adult family members should be resolved with the help of emotional support and tolerant attitudes vital for adolescents in such period of his/her life.

Negative Impact of Parents’ Addiction on Children

There are also multiple studies demonstrating the appearance of numerous harmful effects of addicted parents on their children. First of all, in many families with an adult who has abusive behaviors, cases of violence are reported (Hernandez, Rodriguez, & Spirito, 2016). Being unable to control their actions, parents might beat their children and injure them. Additionally, because of the decreased attention to their problems and the lack of time, the overall functioning of children, their socialization, communication with peers, and schooling also suffer (Hernandez et al., 2016).

In many cases, young members of the family can be ashamed of their adults because of the existence of mainly negative attitudes to addicted people in societies (Sakiyama et al., 2015). Under these conditions, the lack of emotional support, emerging problems in communication aggravated by the lack of money, and constant conflicts create the basis for the appearance of a high risk of undesired behaviors among children and difficulties with their socialization.

Predisposition Among Children

Among the effects addiction might have on families, the emergence of predisposition to substance abuse among children should be considered one of the most undesired ones. In the traditional approach, a nuclear family (with mother and father) is viewed as a barrier to the appearance and development of addictions as they provide the needed emotional support and tolerance to their children (Ewing et al., 2015). However, the alteration in this pattern and the emergence of an addictive parent increases the change of the development of substance abuse among children significantly (Smith & Wilson, 2016).

The lack of resilience and empathy causes substance abuse among children, and their intention to use drugs (Velleman & Templeton, 2016). This negative impact becomes one of the most problematic aspects of the problem of addiction in families, and it contributes to the appearance of risk groups with similar characteristics and chances to become addicted.

Addiction and School Performance

A significant deterioration of children’s academic successes and their inability to reach the usual school performance level are other possible effects of addiction on the functioning of families and their members. Parental substance use negatively affects adolescent’s learning activities and their ability to succeed in educational establishments (Gifford, Sloan, Eldred, & Evans, 2015). Because of the lack of attention and interest among adults, children become less motivated to do their best and accomplish various tasks. Moreover, conflicts in families, financial issues, and violent behaviors might also limit their opportunities to succeed (Gifford et al., 2015).

At the same time, research shows that positive emotions, support, empathy, and treatment provided to a family member who has this sort of problem might help to improve the academic performance of a child and guarantee his/her ability to learn (Gifford et al., 2015). For this reason, this negative effect should be considered when cogitating about the topic.

Mothers’ Addiction Impact on Families

Analyzing the problem, the negative impact of the mother’s addiction on families and children should be discussed. Being critically important for a child, especially during the first years of his/her life, a woman plays a vital role in the formation of appropriate behavioral patterns, responses, and actions. For this reason, researchers admit the existence of a strong correlation between maternal addiction and the functioning of children, their development stages, and the ability to succeed in various activities (Schuman et al., 2017).

At the same time, women with abusive behaviors are expected to have problems with their husbands or partners because of the appearance of misunderstandings and conflicts preconditioned by this factor (Schuman et al., 2017). Only in rare cases, the emotional support and appropriate attitudes contribute to the better resolution of the problem and recovery. For this reason, this issue should be investigated to propose practical solutions that can be used to manage the pernicious impact of addiction among mothers.

Maternal Behavior

The existing research also shows the appearance of serious alterations in maternal behavioral patterns among addicted mothers. In healthy women, the views of their babies’ faces trigger a strong reaction that is considered a part of their motherly instinct; however, mothers with addictions demonstrate a pattern of decreased activation in dopamine and oxytocin-innervated brain regions, which means that the strength of their responses is weaker (Kim et al., 2017).

It is a threatening sign proving the appearance of physiological changes in the functioning of women’s bodies under the impact of addiction and deterioration of their maternal function, which might have a pernicious effect on the life of families. At the same time, the quality of responses to older children also alters, and mothers become less emotional and emphatic (Kim et al., 2017). In the long-term perspective, it might trigger undesired behaviors among adolescents and their inability to succeed.

Parental Involvement

Finally, the existing evidence shows that addiction might harm parental involvement. Under statistics, adults who use drugs or alcohol have a decreased level of interest for their children and the situation in the family (Hernandez et al., 2016). It comes from the appearance of the psychological and physiological dependence on substances and the need for their constant use (Hernandez et al., 2016). However, from the perspective of the family, it causes a destructive impact on relations and the ability to evolve. A partner and children will suffer from the lack of participation and deteriorated behavioral patterns, which might destroy this institution.

Conclusion

Altogether, the problem of substance addiction and its impact on families remain topical as multiple effects should be discussed. The paper offers the most significant aspects that should be analyzed because of their critical significance for households. Parents and children might suffer from the deterioration of relations between them, the lack of trust, or interest. At the same time, positive emotions, support, and assistance are critical elements of successful recovery and rehabilitation. For this reason, it is recommended to continue the investigation of this topic to find additional data related to it.

References

Atadokht, A., Hajloo, N., Karimi, M., & Narimani, M. (2015). The role of family expressed emotion and perceived social support in predicting addiction relapse. International Journal of High Risk Behaviors & Addiction, 4(1), 1-5.

Choate, P. W. (2015). Adolescent alcoholism and drug addiction: The experience of parents. Behavioral Sciences, 5(4), 461-476.

Ewing, B. A., Osilla, K. C., Pedersen, E. R., Hunter, S. B., Miles, J. N., & D’Amico, E. J. (2015). Longitudinal family effects on substance use among an at-risk adolescent sample. Addictive Behaviors, 41, 185-191.

Gifford, E., Sloan, F., Eldred, L., & Evans, K. (2015). Intergenerational effects of parental substance-related convictions and adult drug treatment court participation on children’s school performance. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(5), 452-468. Web.

Hernandez, L., Rodriguez, A., & Spirito, A. (2016). Brief family based intervention for substance abusing adolescents. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 24(3), 585-599. Web.

Kim, S., Iyenhar, U., Mayes, L., Potenza, M., Rutherford, H., & Starhearn, L. (2017). Mothers with substance addictions show reduced reward responses when viewing their own infant’s face. Human Brain Mapping, 38(11), 4521-5439. Web.

Sakiyama, H. M., Padin, M. D. F. R., Canfield, M., Laranjeira, R., & Mitsuhiro, S. S. (2015). Family members affected by a relative’s substance misuse looking for social support: Who are they? Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 147, 276-279.

Schuman, N., DeCoste, C., McMahon, T., Dalton, R., Mayes, L., & Borelly, J. (2017). Mothering from the Inside Out: Results of a second randomized clinical trial testing a mentalization-based intervention for mothers in addiction treatment. Development and Psychopathology, 29(2), 617-636. Web.

Smith, V. C., & Wilson, C. R. (2016). Families affected by parental substance use. Paediatrics, 138(2), 1-13.

Velleman, R., & Templeton, L. J. (2016). Impact of parents’ substance misuse on children: An update. Psych Advances, 22(2), 108-117.

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