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The Effects of Parental Substance Use Disorders on Children

Courtney Lippert

Conestoga College

Personal Support Worker

Kimberly Stuckey

December 1st, 2021

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The Effects of Parental Substance Use Disorders on Children

According to Stats Canada, parental substance use disorders (SUD) occur in 1 in

5 families. Substance abuse is one of the few things that doesn’t discriminate between

sex, race or socioeconomic levels. When a child is present these negative behaviors

are sure to follow suit, sometimes even from a young age. Substance disorders are

identified as using non-prescription substances three or more times a week. This paper

aims to distinguish the effects of parental and prenatal SUDs on their children. “The

lasting traumatic effects of these types of abuse can be devastating throughout the

lifespan” (Thatcher, 2020, para. 2). This paper aims to prove that parental substance

addiction causes extensive effects on children including birth defects caused by

prenatal addiction, unhealthy attachments as well as behavioral and cognitive issues.

Substance abuse has a debilitating effect on children’s well-being long-term.

The ramifications of prenatal addiction arguably cause the most severe harm.

Prenatal substance abuse can cause long-lasting, detrimental effects no matter

what the substance in question is. For example, the following excerpt from

Pediatrics, outlines effects of smoking during pregnancy: “Fetal tobacco exposure

has been a known risk factor for low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction

for more than 50 years with decreasing birth weight shown to be related to the

number of cigarettes smoked” (Behnke, Smith, 2013). Additionally, “Infants born to

heavy drinkers had twice the risk of abnormality of those born to abstinent or

moderate drinkers" (Ouellette, Rosett, Roseman, Weiner, 1977). As one would

assume, the effects of substance use while pregnant poise the most risk as the child
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absorbs the substance directly. An article from Samaritan Health Services states:

“During pregnancy the brain is growing very rapidly through processes that involve

cell growth, planned cell death and connections between cells. Due to this rapid

development, any [substance addiction] interference with normal brain development

can have a significant impact on physical growth, behavior and cognition, including

intelligence and language skills” (Samaritan Health Services, 2020). Although the

effects of prenatal substance abuse specifically have been studied more in depth

compared to the effects of secondhand substance exposure once born, the findings

are irrefutable just how damaging a prenatal addiction can be on the unborn child.

Aside from the physical harm that may occur during a pregnancy where

substances are present, the emotional and psychological well-being of the child is

severely strained as well. Children learn attachment behaviors primarily from parental

figures and later from their environment. Suffice to say, a person with a substance use

disorder exhibits unhealthy attachment behaviors. Lander et al (2013) states that “A

parent who is mood altered, preoccupied with getting high or spending significant

amounts of time recovering from the effects of substances, may miss the opportunities

to foster healthy attachment.” Unhealthy attachment issues can cause a multitude of

problems in the long run. Attachment issues can be manifested in interpersonal

relationships where the person may display any number of attachment issues like being

anxious, avoidant, fearful-avoidant or reactive. It could also take the form of creating

their own addiction habits. A study by Schindler (2019) from Frontiers in Psychology

points out that “the general link between insecure attachment and SUDs today is well

established, and there is moderate to strong evidence for the assumption of insecure
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attachment being a risk factor for SUD.” This peer reviewed article collected data on 37

different studies, both longitudinal and cross-sectional, to prove the correlation between

parental SUDs and the unhealthy attachment issues that their children may inherit or

foster on their own accord.

Beyond the prenatal effects and unhealthy attachment issues that could arise,

behavioral and cognitive developmental delays may occur. Although studies show that

children are resilient in the face of adversity, including being raised alongside or directly

by someone suffering a substance use disorder. It has already been demonstrated how

malleable a developing child’s brain can be and with the addition of addiction and

addictive behavior, “compared to their peers, children of substance abusing parents

show increased rates of anxiety, depression, oppositional behavior, conduct problems,

and aggressive behavior as well as lower rates of self-esteem and social competence”

Burns et al (2012). This can not only lead to unhealthy self-image or thought processes

but also have a detrimental effect on the child’s ability to trust and connect with others

later in life. An article from MedMark Treatment Centers (2018) states that “For a child

that is being exposed to drug use and the neglect that often comes with it, they will start

to feel emotions like distrust, disconnection, and resentment for their parents or

guardians at a very early age.” Although much research has been done on the lasting

impacts of substance abuse on users and on prenatal substance use, more research is

needed regarding the likelihood and variability of cognitive delays due to parental

substance abuse.

Parental substance use disorders effect every level of the family dynamic. These

effects range from emotional to physical and can be short term or lifelong. Substance
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addiction or SUDs have varying effects on the user and their family depending on the

type and length of use. As discussed earlier, prenatal substance abuse can cause

irreversible damage continuing during childhood and adolescents. If the root addiction is

not addressed early on unhealthy attachment issues and cognitive or behavioral delays

can occur. Although the effects of parental substance addiction vary greatly with the

most common and severe problems occurring with substance abuse while pregnant,

there is indisputable evidence to confirm the negative impact substance use disorder

has on not only the family dynamic, but specifically on the children being raised in such

an environment.
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References

Arjan, A. (2018, August 16). How substance use affects children. MedMark Treatment

Centers. Retrieved November 26, 2021, from https://medmark.com/how-

substance-use-affects-children/.

Behnke, M., & Smith, V. C. (2013). Prenatal substance abuse: Short- and long-

term effects on the exposed fetus. PEDIATRICS, 131(3).

https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-3931

Lander, L., Howsare, J., & Byrne, M. (2013). The impact of substance use disorders on

families and children: from theory to practice. Social work in public health, 28(3-4),

194–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2013.759005

Samaritan Health Services. How do drugs affect a baby's development during

pregnancy? Samaritan Health Services. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from

https://www.samhealth.org/about-samaritan/news-search/2020/06/08/how-do-

drugs-affect-babys-development-during-pregnancy.

Schindler, A. (2019). Attachment and substance use disorders—theoretical models,

empirical evidence, and implications for treatment. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00727

Solis, J. M., Shadur, J. M., Burns, A. R., & Hussong, A. M. (2012). Understanding the

diverse needs of children whose parents abuse substances. Current drug abuse

reviews, 5(2), 135–147. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874473711205020135

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