NCJ Number
230613
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 54 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2010 Pages: 448-472
Date Published
June 2010
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study examined how adolescents with addicted parents were influenced by their home experiences and family relationships in their decision to lead a normal, productive life or follow in their parents' footsteps.
Abstract
The family relationships of adolescents brought up by an addicted parent were studied in a qualitative research. The authors interviewed 19 adolescents, all of whom had a parent either actively addicted to drugs or else recovering addicts. The participants were assigned to one of two groups based on the degree to which they maintained normative lives or descended into addiction. It was found that the relative strength of the adolescents within the triad of forces (mother, father, self) had great significance for their development. Younger siblings awakened a desire to protect them from a life of addiction. The extended family was also found to have a potential to influence, in keeping with the significance the young people attributed to these relatives. The results indicate a definition, the first of its kind, of subjective risk and protective factors representing subjective perceptions of the reality of the lives of the participants. Table and references (Published Abstract)