Mental health articles

Effects on Children of Addicted Mothers
Children of substance abusing mothers are at increased risk for physical, academic,and socio-emotional problems. From the time they are conceived and continuing throughout their childhood, they are exposed to an accumulation of factors all known to contribute to biological, developmental, and behavioral problems. One of the initial risk factors includes prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs
including tobacco, which result in approximately one-quarter of these children having health problems at birth.After birth, further risk factors often include maternal mental illness, low maternal education,low-income status, instability in caregivers, child abuse and neglect, little paternal
involvement, residential instability, and experiences in foster care . Each of these risk factors has been shown to independently result in
negative outcomes for children, although alone are unlikely to result in a major developmental problem. However, it is the accumulation of these risks that makes the child of a substance abusing parent most vulnerable. The accrual of the environmental risk factors by themselves over time can outweigh the adverse consequences of any prenatal substance exposure .As these children progress through adolescence, the risk of developing a substance abuse problem of their own is also markedly increased. Substance use among youths aged 12–17 increase 93 % when the mother uses substances herself.Compounding the problem is that these children also have limited opportunities to develop the relationships and skills that might help buffer them from these risks.
Given the instability in their lives, they may have difficulty forming stable and supportive relationships with caring adults. This further limits their ability to acquire good skills for social interaction and emotional regulation. Often they will not have sufficient access to stimulating encounters that help to bolster knowledge and a sense of achievement. Thus the cycle tends to repeat itself intergenerationally
with these children having a high risk for substance abuse and
following in their addicted parents’ footsteps, many of whom were themselves children growing up in the same environment.

Tags: substance abuse