Parent-Child Relationship A Factor in Drug Addiction
Much about drug addiction, including its causes, is complex and still not entirely clear. A number of factors are known to contribute to the formation of a drug addict. These include the environment, the biochemical reactions in the brain, and heredity. In the midst of all these, there's no denying that drug addiction causes severe harm to the body and that the problem is difficult to overcome.
Peer pressure and the easy availability of drugs are two obvious factors that contribute to the problem of experimentation and involvement with drugs; so, too, is parent-child relationship.
If asked for advice on drugs, most parents will surely warn against the dangers. Often, however, their advice runs contrary to the examples they show. For instance, the medicine chest in their homes contains many different kinds of capsules and pills. This is a clear indication of their tolerance for these chemical substances. Meanwhile, their children believe there's nothing wrong with this and proceed in using or experimenting with them.
The parent-child relationship as a factor in drug addiction is never more pronounced than in an instance when a child has developed an antagonism against his parents. In its milder form, this attitude of a child is part of the normal process of "liberation" from his parents. When the attitude is extreme, however, the child will do things he knows his parents will oppose.
For example, the child will find ways of experimenting with drugs even if he had been repeatedly warned against the substances or forbidden from using them. He feels proud of his approach to adulthood and does such things to show his independence.
When dealing with their teenage child, parents need very good judgment and a great deal of tact. They should arrange adequate time for companionship with their child. They must become interested in their child's interests and engage with them in pleasant activities.
Parents should keep open the channels of communication. They should not find fault with their child's comments and questions, and should respect his confidence when he tells them about the practices of his friends and schoolmates. Also, parents should encourage their child to exert a wholesome influence upon his friends.
Instead of exhorting in a tiresome manner, parents should give their child factual information about the effects and hazards of drug addiction. By their own example, they should indicate the advantages of the more desirable way of living. An ideal parent-child relationship is one in which parents manifest love and goodwill toward their child and the child responds in ways that please his parents.