Archive for the ‘Young people’ Category
Genders of Alcohol-Dependent Parents and Children Influence Psychopathology in the Children
No CommentsScientists already know that the children of alcohol-dependent (AD) individuals have a greater risk of developing a psychiatric illness, but the effects of gender on this risk are not well known. A new study has found that the effects of parental AD on a child’s psychopathology can be different, depending on both the gender of the AD parent and the gender of their child.
Results will be published in the October 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Researchand are currently available at Early View.
ew research shows peer drug use may increase an individual’s genetic tendency to use drugs
1 CommentThe nature-nurture debate is usually about how much of something is due to our genes and how much is caused by our environment. New research just published in the academic journal Addiction shows that the case is more interesting for young women who smoke, drink, or use drugs, for two related reasons. First, a young woman with a genetic predisposition to substance use is also predisposed to choose friends who smoke, drink, or use drugs, thereby altering her environment in a way that encourages substance use.
The role of parents in preventing alcohol misuse: An Evaluation of the Kids, Adults Together Programme (KAT)
No CommentsA key influence on the timing of young people’s first alcohol use is the family (Spoth et al. 2002) and a number of substance misuse prevention programmes (mainly in the USA) have tried to influence families. Most are based in schools, which potentially provide an efficient way to reach large numbers of young people and their families (Bryan et al. 2006). However, in practice, school-based initiatives have not always managed to engage significant numbers of parents (Lloyd et al. 2000; Rothwell et al. 2009; Stead et al. 2007; Ward and Snow 2008).
Young people’s drug and alcohol treatment at the crossroads
No CommentsA key message for this report is that a neat line cannot be drawn between the needs of young people under 18 and those aged 18 to 24 who have to access the adult treatment system. It considers how trends in drug and alcohol use
among young people and young adults do not fit the concepts on which much of the treatment system is based – and highlights the fact that there are already many over 18 whose needs are not being met by the adult system.
Pain and anger are the hidden burden for children with an alcoholic parent
No CommentsWhen Mary Smith pulled the car off the road to answer her mobile and hear the news of her father’s death, she felt just “a calm relief”.
“Really, I had lost my dad many years before. His mind had gone at least four years before,” said Smith (not her real name). “Sometimes I think about what we went through and I can’t quite believe that we got through it. There were a lot of bad times.”
Her father was an alcoholic who drank himself to death. All the help his young daughters and his wife tried to get him, from detox programmes, to rehab, to psychiatric sessions, had failed. “He chose to drink, and he chose that over us
