Trauma from warring parents more likely to push young adults to drugs than effects of divorce

Experts from the Health Research Board and Trinity College Dublin found that children who experienced dysfunction in their home life were more likely to go on to develop problem drug or alcohol dependence by the age of 20.

Dr Deirdre Mongan said the research, the first of its kind in Ireland, examined the link between nine adverse childhood events and alcohol/drug use in young adulthood.

“We’ve had anecdotal reports that drug use is embedded in childhood trauma, but this is the first time we’ve been able to try to quantify it in any meaningful way,” said one of the authors.

Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, the research team examined the responses from 4,729 young people at the age of 20 on their experiences of stressful life events.

They were asked if they had experienced the death of a parent, a family member or a close friend. They were also questioned if there was conflict between their parents, a divorce or separation of their parents or a stay in a foster home or residential care.

We need to look beyond the person being treated and include the family around them

They were also asked if there was a mental-health disorder or a history of drug or alcohol abuse in the immediate family, or a parent in prison.

It emerged that children who experienced conflict between parents were 100pc more likely — twice as likely — to develop problem substance use, compared to a 56pc increased likelihood among children whose parents divorced or separated.

Dr Mongan said there was “no relationship” between childhood experience of divorce or separation and alcohol dependence as a young adult. However, she said there was a strong link to alcohol dependence in 20-year-olds who experienced conflict between parents.

The study found young adults with possible alcohol dependence were 73pc more likely to have suffered the death of a close friend. Overall, over a fifth of the group had suffered this kind of loss.

Conflict between parents was recorded for 30pc of young adults during the study period, with 22pc having experienced the divorce or separation of their parents.

A mental-health disorder in the immediate family was recorded for 15pc of the young adults, while almost 13pc reported having experienced drug taking or alcoholism in their family.

Excluding death of a family member other than a parent, just over 30pc of young adults had experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences during the study period, which studied the children at the ages of nine, 13, 17, and 20.

The study found three main childhood traumas were linked to alcohol dependence or problem drug use at the age of 20.

“If you experienced drug-taking or alcoholism in your immediate family, you were more than twice as likely to develop problem drug use as a young adult,” said Dr Mongan, research officer with the Health Research Board.

“If you had conflict between parents, again, you are twice as likely to have problem drug use as a young adult, and if there was a mental health disorder in the immediate family, it almost doubled the likelihood of using drugs.

“So those three adverse childhood experiences are most strongly associated with problem drug use.”

Conversely, the study found that young people who stayed in foster care or residential care or who had a parent in prison were less likely to binge drink or drink alcohol frequently compared to their peers.

But it found that 20-year-olds with addiction issues were three times more likely to have had a parent in prison.

Dr Mongan cautioned that these numbers were small, with 56 of the young adults experiencing foster or residential care and 53 having a parent in prison.

“And in some ways they’re quite contradictory – because if you look at having a parent in prison, our results suggest that you’re less likely to drink frequently or to binge drink, but you’re also more likely to have alcohol dependence.

“It seems to be that if you have a parent in prison, it can go one of two ways, either they avoid alcohol use, or they use it in a problematic way.

“We didn’t see any relationship between staying in a foster home or having a parent in prison with problem drug use. It could be the case that if you are staying in a foster home, you’ve been removed from a household with a lot of dysfunction.”

Dr Mongan stressed the cumulative effect of multiple adverse events in childhood. Young adults who experienced three or more adverse childhood experiences had a three-fold increased odds of alcohol dependence, compared to those who experienced no adverse events.

She said the findings show there is a need to help the children of people receiving treatment for a mental health problem or a drug or alcohol addiction.

“We need to look beyond the person being treated to also include the family around them.”

The studies have just been published in the Child Abuse and Neglect journal and the Addictive Behaviours journal.