Children Living with Substance Abusing or Substance Dependent Parents

The NHSDA Report:  Children Living with Substance Abusing or Substance Dependent Parents

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Highlights:

• Based on SAMHSA's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, in 2001 more than 6 million children lived with at least one parent who abused or was dependent on alcohol or an illicit drug during the past year.  This involved about 10 percent of children aged 5 or younger, 8 percent of children aged 6 to 11, and 9 percent of youths aged 12 to 17. 

• SAMHSA's survey defined abuse and dependence using criteria in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) which includes such symptoms as physical danger, trouble with the law due to substance use, increase tolerance, and interference in everyday life during the past year.

Reports on Parental Influences

Reports on Alcohol or Drug Dependence

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This Short Report, The NHSDA Report:  Children Living with Substance Abusing or Substance Dependent Parents, is based on SAMHSA's  National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   The NHSDA also provides estimates for drug use by state.

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This page was last updated on June 2, 2003.

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