Assignment: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs

Assignment: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs

Assignment: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 44 (2), 173–185, 2012 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0279-1072 print / 2159-9777 online DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2012.685408

Familial Risk Factors Favoring Drug Addiction Onset

Jadranka Ivandic? Zimic?, Ph.D.a & Vlado Jukic?, M.D., Ph.D.b

Abstract — This study, primarily aimed at identification of familial risk factors favoring drug addic- tion onset, was carried out throughout 2008 and 2009. The study comprised a total of 146 addicts and 134 control subjects. Based on the study outcome, it can be concluded that in the families the addicts were born into, familial risk factors capable of influencing their psychosocial development and favoring drug addiction onset had been statistically more frequently encountered during childhood and adolescence as compared to the controls.

The results also indicated the need for further research into familial interrelations and the structure of the families addicts were born into, as well as the need for the implementation of family-based approaches to both drug addiction prevention and therapy.

Keywords — drug addiction, family, risk factors

Drug addiction represents a global health and social challenge faced by the modern world, with ongoing problems for all parties involved; this is true especially for the members of the addict’s family, who often have to admit their inability to cope in an efficient manner. The ever-growing prevalence of opiate drug abuse has eventually led to crises in modern society and traditional family ways; it has jeopardised fundamental social virtues and values and led to a rise in criminal behavior.

Therefore, drug addiction issue should be viewed as a multidisciplinary phenomenon whose causes are to be sought in the interplay between biopsychological, familial and social factors, and in the interplay between risk and protective factors (UNODC 2009; NIDA 2003). Nevertheless, a family can‘t be viewed as an isolated entity, but rather as an integral part of the broader community, so that a family and society are in constant interaction that strongly affects a Senior Adviser to the Government and to the Governmental Office of the General Programs & Strategies Department, Office for Combating Drug Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia.

b Head of the Hospital, Psychiatric Hospital Vrapc?e, Zagreb. Please address correspondence to Jadranka Ivandic? Zimic?,

Ph.D., Office for Combating Drug Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Preobraženska 4/II 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; phone: +385 1 48 78 130; fax: +385 1 48 78 120; email: jadranka.ivandic@ uredzadroge.hr

not only individual behavioral patterns, but the society as a whole (Georgas 2006). It has been well recognised that, aside from familial risk factors, addiction onset can also be influenced by other cultural-social factors, personal- ity features and genetic predispositions working together (NIDA 2003).

While discussing the fundamental functions of the family, the American sociologist Talcott Parsons has mentioned primary and secondary socialisation, the for- mer defined as going on within the familial frame during an early childhood, and the latter as taking place outside family boundaries and developing as a result of social influences stemming from peers, school and immediate surroundings (Georgas 2006).

Familial sociopathology in terms of alcohol abuse, domestic violence and especially child molestation and neglect have adverse effects on the child’s healthy psychological development and are fre- quently seen as the primary cause of psychological issues and risky behaviors, including addiction (Bry et al. 1998; Haddad, Barocas & Hollenbeck 1991).

Studies devoted to addicts’ families, carried out in Philadelphia, have demon- strated that the nature of chronic heroin addiction may be explained by family structure and intrafamilial relations (Stanton et al. 1978). In several of their studies, Stanton and colleagues have described the male addict prototype characterized by a highly involved and considerate, over- protective mother, indulgent when it comes to the addicted

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 173 Volume 44 (2), April – June 2012

Ivandic? Zimic? & Jukic? Familial Risk Factors

child or even favoring that child over the others. The father of the male addict, on the other hand, is pictured as sepa- rated, uninvolved, weak or distant, or aggressive and brutal, many among them being alcoholics as well.

Peak incidence for addiction occurs in adolescence although other forms of addiction may manifest later in life (NIDA 1999; Nikolic?, Klein & Vidovic? 1990). NIDA studies have pointed towards poor parental surveillance and parent-children conflicts as strong predictors of drug addiction onset (NIDA 1999). Studies have also found that in retrospect addicts very often viewed their mothers as more functional than their fathers in terms of involvement, responsibility and attachment (NIDA 1999.

According to numerous theories, an inadequate fulfilment of the parental role, the lack of parental surveillance included, can eventually result in deviant behavior onset (Stattin & Kerr 2000; NIDA 1999). One study concerned with the relation between bad parenting and delinquency (often associated with drug consumption) revealed the delinquents to have markedly poorer communication with their parents, to lack trust in them, and to be much less bonded to them as compared to nondelinquents (Stattin & Kerr 2000).

Parental alcohol abuse, especially that of the father, can be responsible for children’s issues such as behav- ior problems, delinquency, toxicomania, school issues or school quitting, and issues of a psychological nature like sleep disorders, anxiety and depression (Vitaro, Tremblay & Zoccolillo 1999; Haddad, Barocas & Hollenbeck 1991).

Assignment: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs

Numerous studies have shown that poor interparental relations adversely impact child’s psychological development, since marital conflicts are linked to a child’s incapacity for social adjustment and his/her harsh upbringing regimen, later on closely related to risky behavior patterns including addictive substance consumption (Goddman & Brand 2009; Haine et al. 2008; Feric? Šlehan 2004; Vukšic? Mihaljevic? & Grubeša 2004; NIDA 2003; Stanton et al. 1978). Given the hypotheses quoted above, drug addiction may certainly be analysed from the familial dynamics standpoint, as well as from the standpoint of family structure and intrafamilial relations (NIDA 1999; Stanton et al. 1978).

In line with the foregoing, this study primarily aimed at investigating the familial risk factors favoring drug addiction onset, taking into account developmental, interaction and social aspects, so as to ultimately be able to determine the existence of certain specific familial characteristics and a profile of family relations typical of drug addicts that might be shed light on as risky familial environments causing some children to be more prone to drug addiction.