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Long Term Effects of Children of Addictive Parents

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Submitted By noya2003
Words 1598
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PSY 281: Developmental Psychology
24 November 2012

Long Term Effects of Children of Addictive Parents

Nothing makes a child grow up faster than having a parent who is addicted to drugs. A child of an addicted parent has no choice but to act as an adult. These children are often left alone and when they aren’t alone, their addicted parent is usually passed out in a drug induced stupor; leaving the child to fend for themselves and/or their siblings. Does having a drug addicted parent have an effect on a child’s emotional development? If so, does this form of abuse that is recognized in the category of neglect have a long lasting effect on the child into adulthood? A child of an addict is constantly exposed to risks more so than the average child. The children are placed in harmful situations such as being minimally supervised, extended exposure to secondhand smoke; exposure to HIV infected needles and are placed in situations where they can accidentally ingest the parent’s drugs. There are many different factors that lead to child abuse but poverty, alcohol, and drug use seem to be to main component to the disturbing increase of neglected children. Children raised in an unloving, unresponsive household are emotionally neglected. In addition, neglected children are more likely to come from single parent households. Overall incidents of child abuse cases have fallen, however; abuse of children in single-parent households still holds the overall national trend. Although child abuse and neglect overall are “significantly” down, in single-parent households it’s increased since 1996 (fathersandfamilies.org). Child welfare professionals have identified the impact of child maltreatment on brain development and how it can alter the brain functions and consequently affect ones mental state. The development level at the time of maltreatment has a

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