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14 DRUG USE AND THE FAMILY

INTERGENERATIONAL EFFECTS

Genes and environment interact in complicated ways. If addiction genes run in your family, it is more likely that other family members will use drugs. That means that you are more likely to be around drugs, which makes it easier for you to get them and easier to become addicted. If your parents use drugs, they are also likely to have a harder time monitoring what you are doing. This means it’s easier for you to get in trouble or develop an addiction. In contrast, a healthy home environment is one of the best defenses against addictive behaviors. A healthy home doesn’t make a person immune to substance use disorders—anyone can develop one. In fact, many teens who grow up in healthy home environments develop serious problems. But if you grow up in a healthy home without addictive substances around, you have a lower risk of developing a substance use problem than someone who grows up in an unhealthy home surrounded by substance use. And it takes more than being substance free to count as a healthy home environment—a healthy home is one that is stable, supportive, and filled with positive relationships. These types of environments aren’t created automatically; they take a lots of work. Fortunately, counselors can help give parents the tools to begin creating a more positive home environment. The good news The effects of addiction on a child can carry on well into the person’s adult years. For example, if a young girl grows up with an addictive parent, this can influence her future parenting style in a number of ways. She might become overly strict, fearing that her kids will wind up as users, too. Or she might become overly permissive, because she lacks confidence after years of dealing with an aggressive, unpredictable parent. The ways that a person’s addiction influences the family member’s behaviors over time are known as “intergenerational effects.”