Parental Substance Abuse

Substance abuse occurs all around us, even if it is not in our home. Substance abuse can

impact the entire family system, especially the children that are being raised by someone dealing

with substance abuse. American Addiction Centers (2021) states that one out of every eight

adults struggles with substance abuse of some kind. Substance abuse in the United States has

tripled since 1990, and parental substance abuse has increased from six to eleven percent

(Parolin et al., 2016). This comes at a threat for developing children as parental substance abuse

heightens the risk of not only traumatic events, but also the risk of drug problems in adolescence

(Lander et al, 2013). Substance abuse is not something that disappears in certain demographics,

as these statistics remain very similar among different backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic

statuses. This makes parental substance abuse a threat to the children in this country, especially

because a majority of the time they cannot escape it.

School communities should be concerned with parental substance abuse because of its

risk factors on nearly every part of a students’ life. Parental substance abuse is associated with

poorer academic functioning, and also can have an impact on a child’s cognitive development

(Solis et al., 2012). Parental addiction often shows a child-rearing environment that is associated

with poor parental skills, adverse childhood experiences, and dysfunctional outcomes, such as

the increased risk to abuse substances as well (Parolin et al., 2016). Among these outcomes is

one of the major causes of addiction, which is genetics. Genetics, which includes the impact of a

person’s environment on their gene expression, is about 40 to 60 percent of a child’s risk for

addiction (Kuerbis et al., 2014). The other percentage of a child’s risk is made up of several

environmental factors with the biggest part being parents' attitude towards drugs, as well as peer

and community influences, and social support. Though researchers have believed that children of
parents dealing with substance abuse are at an increased risk for negative outcomes, this study

shows that with strong social support, spirituality, motivation to succeed, and an important

mentor figure, children overcome these possible negative outcomes and live a successful and

happy life, despite their childhood. It is important for school communities to have an

understanding of the specific areas that children of substance abusing parents are at risk for, so

that they can introduce interventions that may help promote resilience by addressing areas of

needs.

Literature Review

Parental Substance Abuse

Parental substance abuse is not only an extreme risk to the individual, but also puts the

entire household at risk for exposure to traumatic events, and at a heightened risk to abuse drugs.

According to the CDC (2021), substance abuse disorders are characterized by recurrent use of

alcohol or drugs that results in issues, such as being unable to control use of the substance, and

failure to meet obligations at work, home, and school. Parental substance abuse is a risk factor

for child development, heightening the risk of drug problems in adolescence, and exposing

offspring to several types of traumatic events (Parolin et al., 2016). These traumatic events can

begin as early as when the child is in the womb, since prenatal drug exposure impacts a child at a

neuro-behavioral level (Young et al., 2008). Cognitive deficits are common when exposed to

drugs while in the womb, which can impact a child’s ability to learn and in some cases, can lead

to a learning disability. Trauma can also manifest itself in similar ways to Attention-Deficit /

Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and school officials need to have proper understanding to

screen students for trauma because the interventions for trauma versus ADHD are very different

(CDC, 2018). Proper screening allows schools to find students struggling from trauma to use
interventions to build coping skills, find mentorship programs, and create a positive environment

for them to grow (ASCA, 2019).

Traumatic events often worsen once the child is born as parental addiction often entails a

child rearing environment characterized by poor environments, and an increased risk for Adverse

Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (Bergland 2016). ACEs are experiences that can include physical

and emotional abuse, neglect, caregiver mental illness, and violence (Harvard’s Center on the

Developing Child, 2020). The CDC (2019) states that a child’s risk for ACEs is tripled when

living with a parent abusing drugs or alcohol. ACEs are something that must be taken seriously

as they often have long term effects on health, well-being, and education potential (CDC, 2020).

Parental substance abuse and ACEs can be detrimental to a child’s outcome, and therefore when

they are combined, it can affect a child’s well-being in the present and in the future. Another

commonality between parental substance abuse and ACEs is socioeconomic status. Children

with a parent who suffers from a substance abuse disorder (SUD’s) are more likely than a child

who does not to have a lower socioeconomic status (Lipari, 2017). Researchers have found that

when a child is faced with a low socioeconomic status, ACE’s, and parental substance abuse, it is

challenging for the child to overcome their circumstances. Another issue is that all three of these

are positively correlated with each other, so a child who experiences a low socioeconomic status,

ACE’s, or parental substance abuse is more likely to deal with the others, as well as heightening

their risk for extreme trauma (Lander et al., 2013). A National Survey on Drug Use and Health

(2017) showed that about one in eight children lived in a household with at least one parent

dealing with a substance abuse disorder. ACES often has many manifestations that make their

way into the classroom. Students with three or more ACES showed lower engagement in school,

trouble staying calm in the classroom, and in some cases, learning disabilities (Dube, 2018).
Those working in education must properly understand the risk factors associated with ACES to

promote academic success and positive mental health within these students. Trauma informed

practice can help promote resilience, which may lead to better outcomes for these students.

Proper screening and a staff trained on trauma allows a school to support students with ACES so

they can overcome these adversities.

Resilience

The American Psychological Association (2019) states that resilience is the way in which

we adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or stressors, such as family

problems or relationship issues. As resilience has been studied, it is now more clear that it is

ordinary and not extraordinary as it was once thought of (Harvard Center on the Developing

Child, 2019). Though resilience was once thought of as something you either have or you do not,

it has been shown that it is similar to gaining any skill. It takes intentionality, and has four main

components including connection, wellness, healthy thinking, and meaning (American

Psychological Association, 2020). If one has all or some of these aspects, it is more likely they

will grow from these difficulties in life. For this study, specific factors that promote resilience in

children will be discussed. The main ones that will be discussed are social support, spirituality,

motivation to succeed, and a mentor figure which are all shown in research to promote resilience

(Shonkoff et al., 2015).

Protective Factors

Social Support: Social support is defined by Ozbay (2007) as a social network’s provision of

psychological and material resources intended to benefit an individual's ability to cope with

stress. Social support has been backed up by many resilience studies. Southwick (2016) states

social support appears to be associated with resilience via multiple psychological and behavioral
mechanisms, including motivation to adopt healthy and reduced risk behaviors, feelings of being

heard, increased self-esteem, and better use of coping strategies such as social comparison.

Spirituality: It is common for those dealing with stress to turn to spirituality, which may help to

promote resilience. Spirituality has a complex relationship with resilience, and is often one of the

most prevalent characteristics shown in resilient youth (Tuck & Anderson 2014). Spirituality has

been shown to be a structure that guides individuals through the challenges of life, helping

through the good and the bad (Ardelt, Ai, & Eichenberger, 2008). Spirituality and resilience were

also both positively correlated with a person maintaining a sense of well-being and positive

outlook on life (Manning, 2013).

Motivation/ Academic Achievement: Motivation is linked to resilience in multiple ways, but

researchers often focus on the idea that requires motivation (Resnick, 2018). Resilience and

motivation are often confused with one another because they are both concepts that demonstrate

how one responds to a challenge or adversity (Resnick, 2018). Resiliency among students has

resulted in heightened success academically in those who have environmental adversities

(Jowkar, 2014). Academic achievement and resilience have been positively correlated with one

another as well, and high GPA among low socioeconomic status youth has been linked with

resiliency traits (Lee, 2009).

Mentor Figure: A mentor figure in one's life can be the single most important factor in one's

resilience because a mentor figure can increase all the other factors when used correctly. A

mentor figure can help to build your “resilience skill set” (McWilliams, 2019). Nonparental

mentors can help to promote resilience in children in ways such as providing reliable support,

communicating moral values, teaching communication skills, inspire, motivate, and foster

self-esteem (Southwick & Morgan, 2007).

Procedure

The research articles included in this study were found using Chapman University’s

Library website on multiple databases, including ERIC-EBSCO, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and

Academic Journals. Keywords used during searches included “resilience,” “children,”

“academics,” “motivation,” “spirituality,”' “substance abuse,” “substance abusing parents,”

“outcomes,” “social support,” “ACES,” and “trauma.”

In the study, social media was used to find participants that overcame substance abusing

parents. After finding a participant with a background of both parents abusing drugs or alcohol,

two semi-structured interviews were set up. The study required that the participant must be at

least a year removed from the trauma.

The participant in this case study was three years removed from living at home, and

before interviewing the participant, a consent form was filled out and the understanding of what

the study entailed was explained to the guardians. Two interviews were set up at the participant’s

house and both lasted 60 minutes. The participant was not forced to participate and were

recommended through mutual friends on Instagram.

The participant was asked 25 questions during the first interview, the participant was

encouraged to add more detail if certain relevant information was needed to complete the story.

Questions pertaining to family history and background, parents history of substance abuse,

pertinent events, and things that led them to overcome their trauma were asked. After the first

interview, and gathering details of the trauma and information relevant to her story follow up

questions were asked in the second interview. The participant also understood that her name

would not be used and all information would be kept anonymous.

Ellie Brown is a 21 year old woman living in Temecula, California who is currently

attending CSU San Marcos. Ellie is from Redding, California, a small conservative town in

Northern California. Ellie grew up in a lower to middle class family with her two parents and

three older siblings. Several members of both her mother and father’s side of the family have a

history of substance abuse. Her mother suffers from opiate addiction and her father struggles

with alcohol use disorder. Ellie grew up witnessing the trauma that comes with substance abuse

not only from her parents, but also from her siblings. As a result of her parents drug use, Ellie

found herself confiding in her grandmother, who was an attorney and became a mentor figure.

In the 6th grade, Ellie’s battle with trauma started when she witnessed a physical

altercation between her parents over issues with money regarding her mother’s opiate addiction

that led to her having to yell at her father to let go of her mom. Ellie grew up participating in

soccer, cheerleading, and dance, which led her to grow a significant amount of social support and

she was around many families that treated her as one of their own. Ellie grew up with a passion

for reading and enjoyed school her entire life, finding it as an escape from a toxic home life. She

often found herself participating in clubs at school where she developed a relationship with a

counselor with a similar background to hers. Ellie, with her grandmother's input, became very

close with members of her local Catholic Church where she volunteers weekly. She often would

use her volunteering as a good escape from issues at home which helped create a safe space and

positive environment for her to grow.

While interviewing Ellie, she was asked to reflect on her childhood and adolescence and

how she was able to overcome two parents who dealt with substance abuse to live a happy and

successful life. While she talked it began to come to light how important resilience was to her

life and the role social support, spirituality, motivation, and a mentor figure played in her life.

These protective factors allowed her to be successful in and out of the classroom and overcome

many adverse childhood experiences that would often be detrimental to a child’s life.

Social Support:

When mentioning factors that helped her to succeed academically and emotionally even

with two substance abusing parents; she mentions the importance of sports teams and the friends

and families that treated her as one of their own. She mentions how important being incorporated

into families that adopted healthy habits and it gave her of what proper coping strategies look

like. As Southwick (2014) states, having proper social support gives us healthy relationships that

support positive coping strategies and reduces risk behaviors. This was extremely important to

Ellie as she states if it wasn’t for those families and friends I would have most likely eventually

turned to alcohol instead of journaling to deal with my stress. She also says this social support

allowed her to have adult figures that praised her accomplishments which increased her

self-worth a lot. She mentions coming home and oftentimes not getting any praise and instead

being asked to do things like cook for her parents after school took a toll on her. She repeated

that before having the social support she struggled with self esteem issues and felt at times

worthless. Faith Ozbay (2007) mentions that social support often is a great network to help learn

to cope with stress as well as boost confidence. Ellie states that “without positive peer

relationships her idea of how people communicate as well as the importance of academics would
have been completely wrong”. These families were “safe havens” for me she states and seeing

proper parent-child interaction helped me understand what is right and wrong. Safe havens can

allow someone with stressors in a certain situation to have a refuge area where they can feel

comfortable (Hass et al,. 2014). For Ellie this created an area in which she felt was a proper

model of a healthy home environment which molded positive coping skills, and gave her

unconditional support.

Spirituality

Another main theme that was brought up for Ellie was spirituality and the faith in a

higher power. Ellie mentions her grandparents helped instill faith as a main part of her life and it

gave her a framework as to how she wanted to “guide her life”.

She mentions twice how she tried to deal with struggles in life and with her parents as

“challenges that would prepare me for real life”, and that “god knew I was strong enough and

had the people around me to support me no matter what was going on with my parents' sobriety”.

Manning (2013) mentions the importance of spirituality on maintaining a positive outlook on

life, and our ability to maintain a sense of well-being. Ellie says having that guiding light to lead

me no matter if things were amazing or terrible helped me to maintain a sense of peace. She says

that even though her parents were struggling it allowed me to have faith that one day they would

recover, and that kept me hopeful for the future. Ardelt (2008) says spirituality is positively

correlated with those who have resilience and can help navigate someone through the challenges

of life and allow them to keep a positive outlook. Ellie credits her spirituality for connecting her

with many people who helped guide her through life’s struggle as well, which is a main reason

behind the correlation between it and resilience.

Motivation/Academic Achievement
 Motivation during the interview was the one thing that was apparent from beginning to

end for Ellie. Her motivation came from the want to live a normal and happy life and get away

from the trauma that was taking place in her home. Ellie quickly understood that to have better

she needed to push herself both mentally and academically. Ellie became set at an early age to

not take after her parents' habits, and she credits them for wanting better for her as well. She

believes that they always wanted me to succeed and knew what they were doing was something

they didn’t want their child involved in. The importance of motivation is that resilience requires

motivation in order to properly work (Resnick, 2018).

Ellie also said in order to keep up with how her friends were doing academically she had

to push herself and the standard within her friends helped her drastically. She believes a link

between social support and spirituality is what gives her this high motivation to succeed. Jowkar

(2014) mentions resiliency as it’s way into the classroom and children often feel school is a safe

space for them to enjoy. Ellie mentions how taking part in clubs and sports teams allowed her to

be away from home more and this motivation to be in a positive environment increased her

motivation.

Mentor Figure

From an outside perspective one would say the most influential person in a child’s life

can be a mentor figure. For Ellie, her best friend's mom who was also her soccer coach became

this influential figure. She credits Lynn for showing her how to go about life and how to get

through difficult times. She believes because Lynn went though similar challenges as a child it

made it very easy to connect and share experiences. McWilliams (2019) states a mentor can be

someone to build your “resilience skill set”. Ellie believes that having a mentor to teach her
proper coping skills and give her proper communication skills and how to build relationships was

key for her life.

Ellie states that having a supportive figure to be an adult in her life to support her was key

because of the lack of parental support at home. She believes that having a constant healthy

relationship with an adult to frame proper life skills made her situation much easier. Southwick

and Morgan (2007) say a mentor who is close enough to encourage correct moral values and

teach life lessons is crucial in resilience. Ellie credits Lynn for giving her the framework as to

how she wanted to go about life, and pushing her to go out of her comfort zone which helped her

strive to be her best.

Discussion

Summary of your finding, and implications for practice

Lee (2012) states resilience is a team effort and the school community is often

those given the duty of providing a framework for resiliency for students to overcome adversity.

In this study without much outside influence Ellie would not be where she is today. Having a

strong support system, social support, a mentor figure, spirituality, and motivation to succeed

helped Ellie surmount her trauma. After interviewing it was clear that resiliency for Ellie was a

construct that those around her helped to develop. For schools this study shows the need to

promote stable relationships, cultivate positive coping skills, and educate staff on the impacts and

warning signs of trauma.

This research gives useful implications for practicing school counselors. Being able to

support students exposed to parental substance abuse, but also helping to provide service in order

to properly handle the trauma they have been exposed to. With rates of trauma and substance

abuse so high within the United States, school counselors must find ways to combat these issues
so they do not get in the way of the student succeeding. The American School Counselors’

Association (ASCA) position statement on trauma states “School Counselors understand the

impact adverse childhood experiences have on students’ academic achievement and

social/emotional development. School counselors strive to identify, support, and promote the

success of students who have experienced trauma through the implementation of a data-informed

school counseling program”. The implementation of a trauma-informed program allows schools

not only to try and prevent trauma but recognizes the impact of past trauma, and understands the

potential for recovery (ASCA, 2019). Understanding this allows school counselors to make a

proper effort to screen for trauma as well as understanding the manifestations of trauma in our

students. School counselors who see the risk that trauma can have on students' academic and

emotional development can provide interventions to support these students.

School counselors must also understand the impact parents who are currently substance

abusing can have on the student. School counselors must recognize the risk of substance abuse

and addiction being among the leading causes of adolescent death in the United States

(Brannigan et al., 2004). With parental drug abuse being a major factor in adolescents who also

abuse drugs, school counselors must take steps using prevention programs. School counselors

being informed on the particular needs of those students dealing with parental substance abuse is

also extremely important. Katherine Baird (2011) mentions students who are witnessing a parent

deal with substance abuse often struggle with coping skills, relationships, and motivation. School

counselors must take proper steps to screen for and intervene with these at risk students so they

can reach their academic and emotional potential.

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Counselor Association (ASCA). Retrieved November 24, 2021, from

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0%99s-Role-in-Substance-Abuse-Pre?st=ID.

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and children: From theory to practice. Social work in public health. Retrieved October

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Parolin, M., Simonelli, A., Mapelli, D., Sacco, M., & Cristofalo, P. (1AD, January 1). Parental

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 Postscript
This paper for me was both inspiring and eye-opening. I knew from my personal

experience with parental substance abuse, it would be beneficial to see another person’s

perspective on such a challenging thing to overcome. This paper allowed me to reflect on

specific circumstances that helped me to build resilience. Listening to someone with a similar

experience was inspiring because it shows how possible it is to find success in life despite going

through trauma as a child. Another major impact the interview had on me was how valuable the

relationships we make with one another has on our entire life.

Hearing someone break down about the difficulties of going through the struggle of

seeing both parents abusing drugs, and still finding the positives in life was inspiring.

Understanding the importance of every interaction we will have with students came to light for

me. Multiple times she mentioned how something as simple as a teacher checking in with her or

a counselor complimenting her effort despite her home life made a significant impact in her life.

I believe this story also opened up how unique everyone’s background is and getting to know our

students will be priceless when helping them navigate through struggles.

There were many connections to my own life when interviewing and researching parental

substance abuse. I was often feeling similar to how she was when seeing a parent drunk or high,

or using sports and social support as a positive escape. We also both during the interview

reflected on how during our adolescence we had no idea how valuable social support, sports, and

a mentor figure would be in overcoming our adversities.

As I reflect back on the interview, it was amazing to make connections with resiliency as

she answered the questions. I believe that as a counselor having unconditional positive regard

and doing our job to cultivate resilience will be something I pride myself on. I believe that this
project allowed me to practice my counseling skills as well to help guide answers I was hoping

to get.