How Divorce or Separation Can Influence Teen Drug Abuse

by guest author Sonia Tagliareni

Divorce is a very complicated and multi-dimensional process for a family to go through, especially when the family has teenage children. It leaves teenagers in a place of confusion, embarrassment, and, often, anger.

A survey carried out in 2005 showed that teenagers have a rough time adjusting even if the divorce was amicable and quiet. “All the happy talk about divorce is designed to reassure parents,” Elizabeth Marquardt, author of “Between Two Worlds” wrote in her book. “It’s not the truth for children. Even a good divorce restructures children’s childhoods and leaves them traveling between two distinct worlds. It becomes their job, not their parents’, to make sense of those two worlds.”

A study exploring the correlation between parental divorce and teen substance abuse was carried out by the Center for Population and Family Research at the University of Leuven in Belgium. The study concluded that teens who live with a single parent or in a stepfamily after a divorce or separation are more prone to substance abuse compared to teens from intact families.

The research pointed out that drug use — which may evolve into drug abuse — usually starts off as a coping mechanism for adolescents. It is a way for them to deal with the adverse consequences related to a lack of a stable family environment.

In fact, the households with the most disagreements between adolescents and parents are the ones where the teens are more likely to do drugs on a regular basis. The teenagers refer to their home environment as hostile and usually blame their parents for not trying to understand them better. They complain about the absence of love, cooperation, and togetherness, according to the study.

“What negatively affects children’s well-being is not so much the kind of family structure in which they reside, but the history of the quality and consistency of the parenting they receive,” psychologist Lawrence A. Kurdek wrote in the textbook “Stepfamilies: Who benefits? Who Does Not?”

This may mean that teenagers of divorce may never have drug abuse issues if they receive enough nurture, attention and support.

Research indicates that single-parent homes often fail to set expectations and rules, increasing chances for teen drug use. The parents may be too busy fixing their lives to notice alarming changes in their children’s behaviors.

“Children of divorce feel less protected by their parents, and they’re much less likely to go to their parents for comfort when they are young, or for emotional support when they are older,” Marquardt told the New York Times.

Without parents being there to guide them, teenagers turn to their peers, who often play a significant part in their first encounter with drugs. During and after divorce, some teenagers gravitate toward substance-using peers. The thought of associating with other people in similar situations becomes comforting. In cases where teens have resorted to drug use as a coping mechanism, parents need to come together to help their child out of the situation.

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Sonia Tagliareni is a writer and researcher for DrugRehab.com. She is passionate about helping people. She started her professional writing career in 2012 and has since written for the finance, engineering, lifestyle and entertainment industries. Sonia holds a bachelor’s degree from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Sources:

Hemovich, V., & Crano, W. D. (2009, December 14). Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use: An Exploration of Single-Parent Families. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075408/

Lewin, T. (2005, November 5). Poll Says Even Quiet Divorces Affect Children’s Path. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/05/us/poll-says-even-quiet-divorces-affect-childrens-paths.html?_r=0

Vanassche, S., Sodermans, A. K., & Matthijs, K. (n.d.). Divorce, delinquent behavior and substance use among adolescents: The role of parental characteristics. Retrieved from http://folk.uio.no/torkildl/divnet/Papers/Vanassche.pdf

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