Drug addiction problems can affect the entire family. The parents of drug addicts may be affected by their children's drug dependency issues, even if their children are adults. However, helping teenagers or younger children through drug addiction problems is very different from helping an adult who is experiencing the same challenges.
As such, some parents may have to modify their approaches over time, since adolescent drug addiction problems can sometimes persist into young adulthood. The parents of drug addicts will frequently support one another, and they will always have to take the ages of their drug-dependent children into account when offering each other advice. It is also just as important to keep certain truths about young drug addicted patients in mind.
Understanding Youth Drug Addiction Risk Factors
The misconceptions related to youth drug addiction can make this complicated and emotional issue even more difficult for the addicts and their family members. Some parents may hold themselves responsible for the addictions of their children.
Drug addiction is a complex enough issue that it is often difficult to anticipate who becomes an addict and why. Teen addiction rates, while still an issue in the United States, has fortunately seen a positive decline across the country. Below, we take a look at some notable risk factors related to youth drug addiction.
Drug Use and Income
The connection between drug use and income is less clear than many people believe. It is still widely believed that substance abuse problems are specifically issues for the lower classes. There is some evidence, however, that upper class students are around twice as likely to experience drug addiction problems compared to the average. Around 80 percent of individuals in the upper class use alcohol. However, about 64 percent of adults across every income level in the United States consistently consume alcohol, making it seem as if this is an issue that has a relatively weak correlation with social class.
Drug Use and Education
Students at all achievement levels can have issues with drug dependence. Parents who believe that their high-achieving children are incapable of having substance abuse problems might be ignoring a very real issue. Similarly, parents should not assume that a child who struggles academically will automatically develop a substance abuse problem eventually.
Drug Use and Home Stability
Even people who have stable home lives might develop drug addiction problems, particularly if they have mental health issues of their own. While young people who have uncertain living situations might be somewhat more likely to have other mental health issues, including drug addiction problems, people can have those issues in spite of their home circumstances.
Supportive Parents Can Help Drug-Dependent Patients of All Ages
A total of 159,000 American adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were treated for substance abuse problems in 2018. However, at least 863,000 people within this age group simply were not able to get the treatments that they required. When parents review the statistics related to adolescent drug problems, they should keep this in mind.
It is also important to note that 55.8 percent of adolescents specifically report that they primarily avoided drugs because they were concerned about how their parents would react to their drug use. Parents may feel as if their children ignore them, but it seems that adolescents do take their parents' concerns seriously regarding drug use.
Adult children still care about parental approval. However, adults who are facing substance abuse problems may also need financial support from their parents. It is increasingly common for adult children, in general, to rely on their parents for financial support in many cultures, and this situation is particularly pronounced for the adults who have mental health challenges of all kinds. Parents who are able offer the right form of support put their children in the best position to avoid substance abuse.
Assisting Drug-Addicted Teens and Adults
Many people still believe that drug addicts have to lose almost everything in order to progress. Parents might worry about their adult children getting to that point, and they might wonder what this would even entail for younger children. Fortunately, it is not true.
The substance abuse patients who have a degree of social and emotional support are much more likely to recover than other individuals. Parents who are providing their adult children with shelter and financial support as they recover are not enabling their children or causing the addiction to persist. Rather, a solid parent support system allows for the child to focus on recovery.
Early and Late Addiction
Parents who recognize a drug addiction problem in its early stages will be more likely to successfully help their children through it. Some adults with substance abuse problems can still receive treatment on an outpatient level, so they may still be employed and relatively functional during this time. Even the people who need inpatient treatment might still be able to get through it relatively quickly and successfully, especially if they have help from their families.
Adults who develop problems with drug addiction are more likely to recover than adolescents who do so, and every year during an adolescent's neurological development matters. The people who become addicts during their early teens will experience more pronounced problems than the people who become addicts in their late teens. Adults have fully developed brains after the age of twenty-five, giving them a more resilient brain chemistry.
However, the brain is relatively good at healing itself at all ages, if it is given the time to heal. Addicts who have that opportunity can move forward at any age.
Is your child suffering from a drug or alcohol addiction? We understand the pain that you are going through and we are here to help.